My Sword, My Wings, My Gun
by Seiker Hikaru
Summary: From a fantasy land filled with swords and death, to the open skies of the country of fairies and the wastelands of sharpshooters, this is a tale of one VRGamer's journey through the worlds of SAO, ALO, and GGO, and he'll conquer them all without looking back. - OC and Video Game characters.
1. The Death Game Begins

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**I own nothing from SAO or its two games except for my OC, remember that.**

**Game #1: Sword Art Online**

**Chapter 01: The Game of Death Begins**

In a room in a Shibuya suburb, a teenage boy was shuttering his windows and flipping a keep out sign on his door. After booting up his self-build PC, he grabbed the helmet with Nerve Gear on the front, plugging it in and putting in the sole game for it.

"Beta's done… time for the real thing."

The teen placed the helmet on his head and pulled down its visor, closing his eyes and uttering two words that would send him to the world he much preferred.

"_Link Start."_

After his vision was filled with the boot up screen and the Nerve Gear synced, and basic setting done as well as moving his character from the beta were the last things needed.

**[[WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE!]]**

One flash of blue later, the teen was facing a gate in a square, more flashes designating logging in players all over the place. Up in the corner near the health bar, his online handle was visible: Noire.

_Hmph, some things have improved… but glad to see I'm back here. Finally, I'm back where I can escape things._

_**Floor 1: Town of Beginnings**_

After leaving the square and finding a fountain, Noire looked down to see his avatars face, familiar to him just as much as his own: the looks of your typical anime hero with unruly reddish black hair that stuck out all over and eyes that were a flat but vivid shade of red though his face was blank and devoid of expression, and he was garbed in the basic starter gear, the shirt being black.

"Good, same Noire… well… might as well get to work."

Noire picked up his pace, following the familiar path through the market place full of players until he reached the open field, equipping the starting short sword in his inventory, the blade and it's sheath appearing just behind his right shoulder, and he gripped the hilt with his

"Guess I'm going to have to get what I had back… good thing I remember which quests I undertook to get them. Alright… let's get to work."

After a bit of searching and attracting a boar with a thrown rock, Noire waited for a moment, and with a push of his leg, he leapt up and pushed off the boar, slashing it with a sword skill as he flipped and landed.

"Hmph… smoother than the beta… guess I can finish that fighting style I was working on now." A small smirk spread on Noire's face, and he flipped his sword, "Come on pig… see if you can catch me."

When the boar charged after letting out a snort, Noire dodged with deft timing, pulling back his blade and it glowed blue right as he jabbed it forward. After Noire pulled the blade out, the boar exploded into shards and the award screen appeared in front of the teen.

"Like clockwork."

Noire spun his blade on his palm and placed it back in the sheath. After a bit more hunting, Noire was looking up at the now evening sky. After letting out a sigh, he started thinking.

_I feel much better in this world. A world where I can be what I want to be… a world where a single blade can take you to heights you never imagined. For an RPG with no magic, it's pretty darn near perfect. A world were one relies on skills they form… Part of me wishes not to leave… but… that's reality. It's getting late, might as well log on before my sister breaks the door again._

Noire sat up and brought down his menu, and his eye's barely widened when he saw something that he didn't expect.

"Why is the log out button gone…? Is there some kind of bug? Well, the game is fresh out of the beta… but the log out button missing… that's too weird."

Noire scratched his head and stood up, attempting to message the GM but not even that worked.

"Gagh… great… just great… shouldn't the admins be shutting down the server by now if they noticed… I mean that happens a bunch in other mmo's… not like a VR one would be any different."

Noire sighed and crossed his arms, and he looked back towards the sound of a bell once it started ringing, and when he saw blue in his vision before seeing the square again, he looked around.

"A forced teleport… what the hell is going on here?"

As the commotion from the rest of the shocked players as the bell stopped, someone called out.

"Look, up there!"

Noire looked up and narrowed his eyes a bit. There was a red hexagon up in the virtual sky, and soon it spread out with even more, each one saying either "warning" or "system announcement" until the sky was covered.

"What now?"

Noire didn't show it outwardly, but deep down he was surprised when what looked like blood started pouring from the sky until forming into a Game Master.

"The Game Master?"

"Why isn't there a face?!"

Noire sighed as the other players started mumbling in panic. Hopefully this was just some announcement about why they couldn't log out, and so the GM had decided to just tell them straight up that there was a bug and they'd be logged out while it was fixed. At least, that's what Noire hoped was going to happen.

"Attention players, I welcome you, to my world."

Noire raised an eyebrow as the GM spoke in a tone that just… seemed to be like he was emulating some omnipotent being… which in this world, he kinda was.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, _I _am in control of this world."

_Wait… he's the creator of SAO and Nerve Gear! Wait… did he...?_

Noire's face was slightly shocked, and he clenched a fist.

"I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus, the Log Out button." Kayaba brought up his own menu to demonstrate.

"I assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be. You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the Nerve Gear from your head."

"So… he did trap us…"

Noire growled a bit as Kayaba paused.

_I know I thought about not leaving, but I never really wanted it to happen._

"If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the Nerve Gear will discharge a microwave signal inot your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life."

Noire gasped as a commotion spread again, and just one singular thought ran through his head: One little slip up, one little mistake or stroke of bad luck, and he, or anyone else, could die both in game and for real. This wasn't a game anymore… it probably never was.

_The power can't just be cut if the safety on the transmitters is shut off since Nerve Gear has an internal battery… so there's no way out of this… we're all stuck… but… what does this man expect us to do? A hacker... no… a VR games code is too complicated. It's meant to simulate a real environment… hacking this game would be a chore unless you can get straight to an admin station, and who knows where those could be hidden?_

As Noire thought, to him it literally felt like the lines of code and such were spreading out around him. His brain worked on a bit of a different level than most people's due to the sole fact of him having high functioning autism/aspergers. He'd spent a lot of time learning about computers, codes and how to perform in games. It was near inhuman what he could do because of the fact that was all he did outside of school. But this was something else entirely.

"This is just insane…"

"But, despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players attempted removing the Nerve Gear, and unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." Kayaba said this like it was just some statistic. Was he treating 213 lost lives that lightly?!

"213!? Already? This definitely isn't a game anymore…" Noire had gone back to his normal blank look as he spoke, but his hand was clenched almost way too tightly, though the fact they were in a game stopped him from hurting himself. Windows showing various news feeds started appearing around Kayaba, showing reports of the incidents.

"As you can see, international media outlets have round the clock outlets of everything, _including _the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a Nerve gear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game."

_Clear the game!?_

Noire felt like the world was spinning now. He'd beaten tons of games before, some of them in record time, even MMO's. But he specifically remembered how long it took him to get to floor eight in the beta.

_It took me and some of the other Beta testers two months just to get to floor eight… and he expects us to clear all 100 floors in this game? That's absurd! That'll take _years _at best, and he expects us to do that!? At least we don't have to worry about anyone tearing off the Nerve Gear… but… that means all the people here are going to _have _to be moved to a hospital… man this isn't good…_

The young man's thoughts were going wild right now, possibilities by the dozens flying through his brain like no tomorrow.

"It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone in the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever… And the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain."

Everyone stood in utter shock at what was said. It meant not even items that could normally revive an ally would have no worth nor effect, if they even existed in this world.

"There's only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game. Right now you're gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one hundred, and you will clear the game."

"So I was right… he does want us to make it to the top. But how… not even those of us in the Beta got close to the upper floors past eight."

Noire just let his hand relax as others started freaking out.

"Last but not least; I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look."

Noire looked around to see a bit more, and everyone was pulling out small little mirrors, and when he looked in his inventory, one was there for him to, and he brought it out, looking at his avatars face in the reflection.

"Why the heck did he put these in there?"

Noire's eyes widened when everyone was wreathed with blue light, and eventually he himself was too. After opening his eyes again, Noire saw that _everyone _looked different, some people older than they seemed, some of the girls were now guys, and some were even little kids! When Noire looks down, he nearly dropped the mirror at what he saw. Now he was looking at his own face instead. Now he had the exact look of someone about fifteen, though he did seem a bit older, and only moderately good looking when compared to his avatar, and he was a little bit shorter than the avatar had been, and even a little thinner and fragile looking with paler skin. His hair was midnight blue and medium length, messy and mildly spiky all over the place, his bangs going past his eyes but parting on the right and left so that he could see, a single tuft going between his eyes and just past the tip of his nose at a bit of an angle, and the spikes progressively smoothed out near the back until it reached the nape of his neck. His eyes were actually sharper in look than his avatars, and his right eye was sapphire blue while the left was emerald green, no thanks to heterochromia he was born with, and to add to it, he looked more European than Japanese since he was half-American. All in all, he just looked rather plain, the only thing sticking out being his eyes but even that was overlooked by a lot of people or thought of as weird.

"How did they… wait… the Nerve Gear rig has a high density sensor that can see my face… but what about my height and body type?"

Noire stood in thought for a moment, then it clicked.

"When calibrated it by patting my body down, that must have been how it detected his build along with his facial features, heck, even the scars on the bridge of his nose and left cheek were there. What was going on here?!

"Right now, you're probably wondering, "Why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and Nerve Gear, do this?" Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal."

_Is this man insane!? He's practically sending us to our deaths! I've played MMO's by the dozens before, and some people make stupid decisions or don't think… it won't hit that this isn't a game anymore until _something _bad happens… but I feel like that won't take long._

Noire was clenching and unclenching his right hand, a tic of his when he was concerned.

"This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

Kayaba's GM avatar faded away and the sky turned to normal in an instant. Everything was quiet for a while, and Noire was caught in thought.

_I said I wanted to stay, and that's exactly what I'm getting. Just my luck huh? But the worst part is the fact I could really die here… Akihiko Kayaba, a genius whom I admire, has made a virtual world and practically declared himself its God, and we're the ones he's watching… waiting to see who lives and who dies. We're in a world that from the ground up is simply code made to look real… and yet it's become the reality of about 10,000 people now, and we have no choice but to climb this damn castle world if we want to live. If I die here, I die for real… but for some reason I don't really mind… I'm not scared of death._

As Noire stayed in his thoughts, panic started going through the crowd the minute one person freaked out, but the teen stayed perfectly still and stoic as people yelled in anger, quietly making his way out of the square and to the nearest fountain where he sat down on one of the benches, bringing up a map of the floor, looking at each of the red dots that signaled each town, and he folded his hands.

"I remember enough to know where I can get a decent amount of EXP and cash on my way to the next town, and there's a weapon and a cloak I'd like to get on the way. The fields around here're gonna be hunted out dry soon enough… and part of me is sure there are gonna be people who choose to stay on this floor and move up as the attack party clears more floors, most likely doing other things that will be necessary like black smiths or merchants… I'm the type to get out there and fight… but… I just don't trust anyone. Working in a group was never my forte anyway."

Noire shook his head and closed the map, standing up, and he turned around when he felt a presence, but it didn't seem like anyone was there.

"Weird… hmph. So, this is going to be my reality now? Heh, I think I could get used to it for the time being."

A small little smirk appeared on Noire's face

"Looks like this game, is now my life. Bring it on Kayaba… let's see what your creation's got in store for a gamer like me. Lone wolves get to have a bit more fun."

With that, Noire turned and ran off, a cocky little smirk on his face as some enemies spawned and attacked, and he cut straight through them with ease, skidding to a stop while spinning, kicking up dust as he used his left hand as a break.

_In a world like this… a world where I'm strong, there's nothing that can stop me… I will get through this! I'll conquer this castle and make it back to reality. Make that one a promise Kayaba._

**A/N**

**I have a feeling the heterochromia thing is going to make people treat Noire like a sure. Give it a bit people and see if he really is one. Now, just to give his theme song:**

**This Game, Konomi Suzuki (The No Game No Life Opening)**


	2. A rookie and a shadow

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 02: A rookie and a shadow**

_**Floor 1: Virmeir Plains**_

Noire leapt back from the enemy Kobolds he was fighting, a new black cloak over his better gear in place of the starting equipment, and a katana blade with a white and gold hilt and silver cross guard in a black sheath in his left hand, and he let out a bit of a growl.

_Sheesh, did I have to run into five of these things when I'm not even level fifteen yet? The things have purple cursors, probably a couple levels or two above me. One by itself would most likely have a red cursor and be no problem, but they spawned in a group, so that adds up. I've only avoided damage because dodging their maces is child's play for me, but I've barely scratched these damn things because when I attack one another one dives in to save its buddy. That's a good AI right there… Good, but annoying as hell._

Noire leapt back as one of the Kobolds charged, putting his hands on his blade hilt, and a red glow started emanating from inside the sheath until he brought it out, a few flashes being seen before he landed, already sliding the blade back into its sheath, the Kobold bursting once the blade's guard hit the top of the sheath.

_One down… four to go. This will not be fun._

Two Kobolds charged, and when Noire knocked them aside with his blade still in its sheath, cutting through one in a blink, and a third rushed up while he was vulnerable as its ally burst apart, swatting Noire with its mace, sending Noire reeling back and rolling to a stop on the ground, his katana clattering to a stop a short ways away.

"Ggh… dammit… let my guard down."

Noire struggled up to a knee, using the sheath in his hand to block an attacking Kobold, kicking the monster away and rolling to grab his sword before jumping up and sheathing the blade, but not before another Kobold nailed him in the back, and Noire rolled to recover before leaping and using another Kobold as a spring board.

_There's no way I'm dying here. Not in the first month of the game where 2000 others have…_

Noire blocked a strike again when he landed, and while the Kobold was trying to break the lock, Noire grabbed his blade and slashed as soon as it glowed, shoving the enemy back and rushing ahead with a combo to finish it off. He turned towards the two remaining Kobolds as the blade clacked back into the sheath.

"My health is down in the yellow now… need to make this last strike count and take them both out at the same time or I'm screwed…"

As the Kobolds charged, Noire put his hand on the katana's hilt and pulled it out slightly, blue light bursting out as he spread his feet, and when the Kobolds drew close enough, he whipped the blade out and bisected both with one slash, once again sheathing the blade as the creatures burst into pixels and vanished. Noire stood there panting as the rewards screen appeared, and his smirk returned once the level up screen appeared, signaling that he was finally level fifteen.

_Good… made it to this level… but I was at least level forty in the Beta by the time I'd gotten to floor right… I'm going to need to find some of the higher rewarding quests… but still… one month and nobodies found the boss room. Sheesh. Talk about idiotic. Did anyone read the manual we Beta testers distributed?_

Noire just sighed as he put a hand over his eyes.

"Might as well get back to the town and sell what I don't need."

_**Floor 1: Virmeir**_

Noire sat down in a bench in the village square, going through his inventory and sorting out the needed items and what he would sell. After finishing up he closed the menu and leaned back, tugging on one of his gloves a bit.

_I heard from some guys in town that some group in Tolbana's heading out to fight the boss tomorrow. Hopefully they won't wind up being a bunch of idiots and not get themselves killed. Pah, this is just me being a pessimist. SAO's different… most people are trying thankfully._

Noire sighed again and leaned on the table, looking down as he started making a circle with his finger on the table out of boredom.

_At least I managed to get the two items I needed from those quests… the [Midnight Cloak] and [Moonlight Sliver]. Two things that came in handy for me back in the Beta. [Moonlight Sliver] should be able to last me until we're up to some of the much higher floors if I upgrade it, and the [Midnight Cloak] makes sure I'm harder for other players to detect, so not like I'll need to replace it later on._

A tap on the shoulder brought Noire out of his thoughts, and he turned to his left, tilting his head up a bit. The one who'd tapped his shoulder was a girl was short, dandelion hair and blue eyes wearing some slightly better starting gear with a dagger on her hip looking down at him.

"Can I help you?"

Noire raised an eyebrow with the same look on his face, and then the girl seemed annoyed.

"Y'know, if you can tell someone's gonna ask you something it would be a bit more helpful if you didn't give them that annoyed look."

"This isn't a look it's my face. Now what do you want."

"You were in the beta… weren't you? I can tell by some of your gear… and the fact your eyes are different colors." The girl added the last part as she moved a finger between Noire's eyes.

"Actually my eyes are like this naturally. Besides, you can't get anything to change your eye color in this game." Noire closed his eyes and leaned back again, using a foot to keep himself from falling back.

"That's… weird…"

"It's called heterochromia, look it up."

"Are you going to answer my question or not!?" The girl's arms went straight as she stamped her foot angrily, and Noire let his feet down, the chair clacking onto the ground.

"Yeah, I was in the Beta. Why, is it suddenly a big deal for people?" Noire just twisted a strand of hair around casually, and the girl let out an annoyed sigh.

"Well… I know it's been a month… but… could I get some training? I'm not that good a fighter and I need a teacher."

Umbra caught himself before he could let his head hit the table.

_Do I say yes or no? I typically don't help people, but then again that was when I played mmo's where it didn't _matter _if you died… here… as many people need to survive as possible._

After a moment of more silent thought, Noire nodded and stood up.

"I'm not above helping out newbies if they ask, though I normally don't, but this is a different situation. Come on, there should be some weaker monsters out in the field."

The girl let out a relieved sigh, and Noire sent a party invite, and the girl looked surprised.

"Uhh…"

"Just so I can keep an eye on your HP. And I'm Noire, by the way."

"Philia… nice to meet you."

_**Floor 1: Virmeri Plains**_

"Congrats, you were defeated by a _pig."_

Noire muttered that with a sarcastic tone as a boar knocked Philia back and the girl sat up, gripping her dagger.

"Screw you! That things the pig from hell!"

"Really? These things are only as strong as your basic slime in other MMOs."

Noire picked up a rock and pulled his arm back, the stone glowing red until the teen threw it, striking the boar in the rear, and when the beast charged, he held it in place with his foot.

"How did you…"

"That was a Sword Skill. Honestly, one whole month and you don't know how to use one? You haven't done it accidently? How have you even _survived _this long without knowing how to use one?" Noire just crossed his arms as the boar kept snorting.

"SHUT UP!"

Philia shot up and waved her arms around as her face went red, and Noire just sighed.

_Sheesh she's like my twin sister. Just as stubborn and bullheaded._

"Look, if you want to use a Sword Skill, you need to start with your initial movement, like when you're going to start your swing or stab, and once you feel the skill build up, you'll know when, just follow through with the rest of the movement and let it go."

"Start with an initial movement…" Philia mumbled as she pulled her dagger back behind her, her left hand hovering over the blade, and when it glowed scarlet Noire smirked.

"Alright then… have at it!"

Noire took his foot off the boar and kicked it so it'd turn around, and when it charged, Philia shot forward with a yell, cutting straight through the boar, which burst apart, and when the girl turned around to see the window that had appeared, she jumped up and cheered.

"Alright! That was awesome!"

Noire smirked as Philia started screwing around with the sword skills, dashing around the field with a smile on her face.

"Addictive isn't it?" Noire asked as he spun his katana around, placing the sheathed blade across his shoulders.

"Yeah. I've played like, one MMO before this… and moving your body to fight feels awesome…"

"Hmph, even if SAO has become some kind of death game, there's still some kind of little charm to it's systems. Unlike normal RPGs where the fighting style is automatic and there's no freedom of movement, this one is all your own skill. I've found it's possible to completely avoid taking any damage if you're fast enough or can use a shield right."

Philia nodded before going back to practicing using Sword Skills and her dagger on boars as they appeared, and Noire just watched, only jumping in to catch any tougher monsters before they got to Philia, who was a bit surprised by the boy's iaido style.

_It's almost impossible to follow his blade. All you see if a flurry of flashes and then it's back in the sheath, and he's so agile enemies can't touch him… so that's what a Beta tester can do. I know they've built a bad rep over the past month but he doesn't seem so bad despite being a bit of a jerk._

Philia turned around when she heard a roar, and dived out of the way just as a lion like monster dove at her.

"Noire!"

Noire turned and his smirk showed up again. He leapt up and vaulted off the monster, and it turned to face the two players as two health meters appeared beside it.

**[Field Boss: Nemean the Wild King]]**

"Noire… what is that?"

"A field boss I remember from the Beta… good thing too because it has an item I've been looking for and I'm the right level to fight the thing!"

Noire dashed forward and dodged a swipe from the beast, slashing its stomach as it went above him, but before the monster sailed over him it used its rear legs to kick Noire and send him flying back.

"Gagh… man it sure as hell didn't do that in the Beta…"

Noire wiped off his mouth as the field boss snarled at him, then it turned its attention to Philia, who gipped her dagger.

"Philia don't you're still to low leveled! Look at it's cursor!"

Philia's eyes shot to Noire for a moment, then back at the field boss, and the monsters cursor was a dark purple.

"What the heck does that mean!?"

Philia gasped when Noire got between her and the field boss, his swords glow dying down.

"In this game the cursor color can tell you a lot of things… for me, that monsters cursor is pure red, which means I'm at an even level to it and can fight without too much worry, but that I should still be careful. You noticed how I was staying away from hunting boars right?"

Philia's eyes widened and she had noticed that. Noire had only gone after monsters that were stronger than her so that she could focus on ones she could fight easily.

"Yeah… you were."

"It's because I'm level fifteen, so the cursors on those were nearing a pink color, which means there's no real point in me hunting them since they're weaker than me and I'll barely get anything. But, even if an enemy has a purple cursor, using the right strategy can make it easy… this'll be tough, and you need to avoid getting hit. I may not like working with people, and I honestly mean no offense but I don't trust you. It applies to everyone so don't feel left out."

"That doesn't help much. If you don't trust me then…"

"It's life or death Philia! I'm not going to let someone die. Even if I don't trust anyone, I'm not going to sit by. Besides, I'm a Beta Tester, so you know that I know _exactly _what I'm doing… right?"

"Fine… but just know that I don't really like you. You're kind of an asshole. I mean really, who just tells someone how to do something and then stand off to the side and do their own thing?"

"Hmph, I get that a lot."

Noire smirked and Philia sighed, shaking her head.

"Alright… when I knock the thing to the side and get it's attention, you jump in and hit it's sides where it's weaker, and the second it turns to you pull back and let me attacks. It may have a new attacks pattern but there's always ways to trip up AI in these games, and I'm an expert at finding them. Once I have it's attack pattern down, we'll finish it off, got it?"

"Got it. Alirght… guess you're leading this dance."

Noire's smirked widened a bit, and he shot forward, sidestepping a swipe from the enemy and returning the favor with a flurry of slashes, and just as planned the monster turned towards him.

"Switch!"

Philia flipped her dagger into a reverse grip and pulled it back, the blade glowing as she slashed it's flank, and the boss went for a strike with its tail, though Noire was quick to pull Philia out of the way.

_So, first it charges and goes for a swipe with its claws, and if you get under it it'll attack with its hind paws, use its tail if it gets behind you, and my guess is if you get pinned down it'll go for a bite that will finish you off… alright!_

Noire let go of Philia and charged again, distracting their opponent with a flash of his blade, and Philia went for another stab. When this process brought Nemean down to red HP, it roared in such a deafening way the two players had to cover their ears.

"What the…?!"

"Noire… what's going on!?"

Noire just grimaced as the roar continued, and Nemean started undergoing a change: First its tail split into two and transformed into twin snakeheads, and its pelt went from majestic gold to a dull steel color and it seemed to harden into a natural armor, and the claws on Nemeans paws grew and became even sharper along with its fangs, and the beasts mane shuddered a bit before parting, and smoke billowed from the spaces as it's cursor shifted to purple for Noire.

"What the heck… this wasn't in the Beta! Philia look out!"

Noire rolled out of the way, his eyes wide as the beast spewed fire, and the snake heads spit poison at Philia who rolled out of the way to avoid the attack, and Noire was slammed by one of the paws when he tried to get close, rolling back and watching as his health plummeted to the red zone since he'd already taken damage before.

_This is bad… Nemean did have a form shift in the Beta but not like this! If we can't get close there's no way to finish it off and we're toast… unless… well, might as well try._

"Philia, can you buy me a few seconds? I'm gonna try something!"

"WHAT!? Are you crazy?! We should run!"

"I need to make sure this will work! We need one more attack… and boy have I been wanting to try this out… I just need five seconds!"

Philia growled, but she nodded, flipping her knife back into normal grip.

"Alright, five seconds and that's it! Bastard… Five…"

Philia rolled out of the way of another gout of fire, running along to make sure she wouldn't get torched and the snake heads reeled back to spit more poison.

"Four…"

Noire took a stance with his hands on his blades hilt, silver light pouring from the sheath.

"Three…"

Nemean struck again and Philia barely managed to roll under it, avoiding getting kicked by its hind paws and jabbing at the snake heads.

"Two…"

Noire made sure he was steady, and he gripped his blade's hilt tighter.

"One…"

"GET CLEAR! VORPAL STRIKER!"

Philia rolled out of the way, and when Nemean turned to Noire, the only thing in the beasts vision was several streaks of silver light racing towards it at an alarming rate, and each one passed through the beasts armor like hide like a hot knife through butter, the final clack of the blade hitting the sheath with one final gleam signaling the end of the chimera as it burst apart, and Noire and Philia stood in shock for a moment before looking at each other with stupid grins.

"Alright!"

The two slapped a high five and collapsed to the ground laughing.

"Wow… in the Beta that boss wasn't so hard before…"

"Was that really a field boss?"

"Yep. I've played other MMO's and sometimes a field boss is just as tough, if not tougher than a dungeon boss. And the fights are always freaking _awesome! _But even then, I didn't expect the thing to knock us down to red HP. Good thing I packed a couple healing crystals."

Noire sat up and pulled out two of the green crystals, tossing one to Philia, and the two used them to heal themselves, and they both sighed.

"That was a close shave."

"Tell me about it."

Noire sighed and put a hand on the back of his head, and he looked behind him when he felt that same presence he had a month ago.

_It's odd, there are times it feels like someone's there, but even with the skill in detection I build up over this month I can't detect anyone… it's just a natural feeling… almost like someone's shadowing me._

"Well, today was eventful. So, you gonna escort me back to the town?"

Noire crossed his arms and thought for a moment as Philia stood up.

"I'm pretty sure you could make it back yourself."

Nore was stopped from going further when Philia's dagger reached his neck, and the girl was glaring at him, and he threw up his arms.

"Alright alright. Yeesh. Oh, before we head off… here…"

Philia cocked an eyebrow when Noire stood up and opened a trade menu, sending her an item.

"Nemean pelt… wait, is that that item you were trying to get?"

"Well this time the boss dropped two for some reason. I really only need one for what I need to make, and I'll have to wait for a few floors before I can find the right NPC or for someone to have a high enough skill for this. I'd just wind up selling the other one so why not? We're in a party anyway, and I think it's best to split stuff when you've got extras if it's a rare drop."

Philia giggled a bit and Noire rolled his eyes.

"Sheesh, for a complete jerk you're really not that bad a person."

"It's just basic rules of a party. Nothing more nothing less."

"Yeah, whatever."

Noire just sighed as Philia chuckled, and he just couldn't help but look over his shoulder again. It honestly felt like somebody was shadowing him right now, but he couldn't see anyone, so he just shrugged.

"Weird… whatever. Come on, let's head back to the town before heading separate ways. I was headed for Tolbana next."

"Hmm… well… if you don't mind could I at least tag along for a bit until we get to the second floor? I need to level up and it'd be handy to have a Beta Tester helping me out."

"Let me guess, pragmatism, right? You just want to stick around because it'd be more beneficial for you."

"Yep."

"Heh, we're more alike than I thought. Alright, but _only _until floor two. After that I'm back to playing solo. Deal?"

"Deal."

The two solo players shook hands to confirm the deal before heading off, and off in the distance, there was a figure with a smile on their face.

"He's shaping up to be quite the fighter along with being a curious individual. I'll watch for a bit longer before facing him…"


	3. Who are you to decide?

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 03: Who are you to decide?**

_**Floor 6, Veritas Highlands**_

Noire jumped off a short ledge and ducked behind it as the horde of enemies chasing him continued running, going right over his head, keeping silent until he could tell things were clear. Once the danger was past he let out a breath and sank down a bit.

"And of course they make one of the resident Beaters run the distraction. I bet those bastards couldn't care if I died just so we could clear this damn floor."

Noire grumbled a few curses before using a healing crystal, his health shooting back up to full, Lv.25 by the health bar. No thanks to knowingthis floor quite a bit it hadn't been much of an issue for him to get to a level to make things a bit easier. Ever since floor two a couple Philia had gone off on her own and Noire hadn't really heard from her since, but, he still kept getting that weird feeling someone was shadowing him at times, which was odd and incredibly concerning. But, he usually shrugged the feeling off.

"Well, might as well get back to the raid group and prove that I'm not dead."

Noire hooked his sword onto his wait and jumped back up to the ledge and took off.

_**Raid Party Base**_

Noire made his way back into the raid base with his cloaks hood raised, ignoring the condescending murmurs spreading through the crowd of parties and some of the forming guilds. Beaters, Beta Testers whom many players thought cheated to get to higher levels and get certain pieces of equipment, like Noire weren't always received well by the others. Then again, Noire didn't really care since he preferred to play solo any way. Better to go as far as possible on your lonesome before relying on others who you don't trust who won't trust you either way.

"Hey, Noire!"

The call of his name made the solo player turn, spotting the black haired Kirito, the other Beater within the raid party and the one who _didn't _have to run decoy, trotting towards him.

"Well, seems you made it out. How'd the battle go? Took me way too long to shake off those chasers." Noire was fine talking with Kirito, a fellow Beta Tester he actually _knew _from the Beta, so since they ran into each other on the floor 2 boss room and reacquainted themselves they'd been keeping in contact.

"We lost a few guys but the boss went down after the chasers followed you. To be honest I didn't expect you to make it out of there."

"Yeah, so did everyone else."

Kirito sighed. Noire's attitude was a little dissuading at times. He was the exact same way during the Beta, and it seemed there wasn't any changing that "I don't trust anyone" outlook. And in a game of life or death, perhaps the iaido sword fighter was justified in his reasoning for being distant. At least other Beta Testers seemed to be a tiny _bit _more on his friendly side than other players were, if only because they all shared in the collective hatethey received. No thanks to Kirito, as should be noted, who pretty much helped coin the term Beater after the first floor… something a few other Beta testers didn't appreciate, or so Noire said.

"Well, either way, at least we didn't lose a good player." Kirito added.

"That opinion depends on who you ask." Noire stated as he gestured towards the other players muttering around as the two Beaters passed by on their way to the center of the camp.

"Uh… right…" Kirito muttered with another sigh.

Noire perked up a bit and stopped dead, turned around a bit, and Kirito stopped and turned as well.

"Something wrong, Noire?" Kirito asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just… felt something weird… ever since floor one I've been feeling like someone's been shadowing me…" Noire replied.

"Well if someone was than we both should have picked them up with Detection." Kirito stated, crossing his arms.

"I know… but I'm not detecting anyone… it's just a feeling… like the person is there but at the same time they aren't… it's weird… you think there's a player who could pull off something like that?" Noire asked.

"Maybe it's some unique skill or something. I mean Detection works on players and NPC's, so I doubt it's the latter. But… I'm not feeling anything weird. Maybe you're just being paranoid." Kirito shrugged as he started walking again.

"There's no such thing as paranoid in a game like this. We only have the choice to survive or die, simple as that." Noire stated with a grim tone.

"Dude… that is dark." Kirito muttered.

"I don't see how that _couldn't _be dark in any way." Noire replied with a flat look. "Besides, we're in a dark and grim enough situation as it is already."

"You just can't find some time to relax and see some good in this can you?" Kirito as as they stopped just outside the camp center.

"No… no I can't. Whether it's me being pessimistic or just realistic, it'll be hard to sway my thoughts on this. Now come on, time to get yelled at again." Noire muttered, lowering his hood and turned to enter the camp, where the lead Raid Party was, and it's leader, a player by the handle of Vernier, openly scoffed at the two Beaters as they entered.

"Well well, seems the little distraction worked… now I just wonder why you're still alive." Vernier scoffed, looking down at the shorter Noire.

"Save it Vernier. I did my job and got those chasers away from the main party so that the rest of you could beat the boss. How much work did Kirito have to do while you were barking orders and sitting back after I left anyway?" Noire replied with a stoic gaze as he crossed his arms.

"And here he goes again." Kirito sighed, putting a hand over his eyes. If there was one thing Noire was good at, it was pissing off the people who didn't like him. Scratch that, he was good at pissing people off _period, _it didn't matter who they were, Noire always found some way to get on that persons nerves.

"Noire… maybe for once you shouldn't tick off the raid leader like you have for every floor after 1." Kirito muttered.

"It's not necessarily all my fault these people don't take kindly to us Beaters now is it? I'm just doing my job and keeping myself alive at the same time. But, would it make you happy to hear I _almost _died baiting those things? My health got down to the red zone before I got those monsters off my tail." Noire stated, and Kirito hung his head. It was too late now. There was a reason Noire was called the Maverick Gamer, as orders or listening to a leading raid party member wasn't exactly his thing, and right now it was a perfect example.

"Well, maybe you should've just let yourself die. Beaters like you are the reason so many…"

Vernier was cut off when Noire's fist met his face, and everyone else present gasped as Noire wiped off his knuckles.

"Gh… WHAT THE HELL!?" Vernier snapped.

"Look… if it's _anyone's _fault we're stuck in this damn game and people died, it's all our own fault for being tricked. It's not the Beta Testers fault so many people have died already. This is an MMO, and any player can tell you even when you're prepared, the odds of dying in an MMO are still pretty high if you're not careful. But this time around the stakes are higher. So, you can either focus on keeping more people alive, or you can vent out anger on me for being a Beater, take your pick." Noire's tone was flat as he spoke, starting to twirl a strand of hair as ever as Vernier stood up and growled.

"No wonder they call you the Maverick Gamer… punching the raid party leader…" Vernier growled.

"To be blunt you deserved it." Noire stated.

"And also disobeying an order off the bat until you decided it would be convenient…"

"It would have been stupid and redundant if I'd drawn the chasers away at an earlier time."

As the argument continued with Vernier trying to make points only to have Noire point out the flaws, the present group started looking back and forth between the two, Noire completely calm and stone faced while Vernier progressively got louder and louder with hate and anger on his face until it escalated into a roar as he charged Noire, who sidestepped and brought his sword to the side, using the sheathed blade to flip Vernier onto his back and then placing the butt of the hilt against the taller man's throat with a knee pressed onto his chest.

"Look, I get you guys hate Beaters like me and Kirito, but this is a game of life or death. We don't have time to be bickering among ourselves like school girls when we have more floors to clear. We've been making good progress since floor 1, and I'd prefer if things stayed that way, but we need to suck things up and work together to keep mortality rates low."

"That's a load of crap coming from a Solo Beater who always states he doesn't trust anyone!"

"Who are you to say we should work with someone like you!?"

"And who are you to send someone into a situation where they could possibly die!?" Noire's voice actually raised in volume a bit as he snapped at the two players who'd spoken, "I know well enough none of you expected me to come back alive. Drawing off those chasers was a suicide mission and you knew it. So what better idea then send the Beater to take care of it? Wouldn't be much of a loss, just one solo player and a Beater, whom you all specifically seem prejudiced against. I've played plenty MMO's before, and it's just a basic tactic to send in the solo player in a raid to draw off enemies while the main party advances and leaves that player for dead. But this time around, using that tactic means that person is dead _permanently. _So I'll ask again: Who are you to send someone to their death?" Noire stood and put his sword back on his waist, Vernier standing and coughing a bit as he backed away, and all the others were stunned when Noire looked around them all with a hard, flat stare that seemed to just ask the same question he'd said earlier.

He was asking them if they considered themselves the kind of people to decide whether one lived or died, and that was enough to shut the others up.

Even Kirito, a realist in his own right, was stunned by that. He hated the fact the others had made that decision as well, even if it was just a basic MMO tactic, now that question held far more weight and importance than before.

When he didn't get an answer, Noire just let out a slight huff.

"I didn't think so. Maybe now you'll see exactly why I riled you up. Sometimes making others react to certain stimuli from others is the only way to make them realize something. I'll go ahead and activate the teleporter for the next floor since I'm sure you don't want the Beater around much longer. Kirito, I'll send you any useful info I find up there."

Noire lifted his hood again, the shadow only leaving his mouth in view, and he walked off through the other players as they parted the crowd, staring at the solo player as he passed, the weight of his question still hanging in the air without a definite answer.

"Boy does that guy know how to make people think." Kirito sighed as he put a hand behind his head and followed Noire. Best that the Beaters get out of everyone's hair before _more _trouble comes up. It was a wonder to think if Noire would remain that way through all this, but, he was right to question the others on their motive for sending him on a suicide mission like that.

_In a game of life or death, I can't take any chances… I need to be on my guard at all times if I want to make it to the top and get out of this place… and so I need to go as far as I possibly can alone… I've always been that way… it's why they call me the Maverick Gamer… _

Noire looked back down at the camp before turning back around and activating the teleporter in the center of the ruins that boss had been in.

_Six down… ninety four more to go…_


	4. Presence Revealed

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 04: Presence Revealed**

_**April 7**__**th**__**, 2023 **_

_**Floor 10, Banora**_

"Finally… man I hate fetch quests…" Noire muttered as he collapsed onto a bench in the towns square, leaning his head back and looking up at the sky ceiling. "I could be up past floor eleven and to floor twenty by now, but there was some things I wanted to do down here first. Besides, I'm only an on and off member of the assault team. They've got Kirito for the role of resident Beater."

Since the last couple of floor, Noire's gear had been upgraded, though he of course kept the cloak, and he'd finally gotten to use the Nemean pelt for what he needed: A combat jacket ending just below his rib cage colored the same matte gray as Nemean's iron like pelt lined in the beasts fur, the collar covering his neck with the section open a bit, and it sat over silver armor that was near standard for these floors, as well as a normal undershirt, and new metal backed fingerless gloves. Other than that his equipment retained the same look as before.

And not only that, he was level forty, no thanks to knowing good quests and hunting spots for EXP… granted it wasn't very efficient since he often had to search out in the boonies no thanks to being a solo player.

"Well, no use sitting around. Might as well bump up a few floors since I'm done here. Wonder if Argo has any new info for me." Noire mumbled as he stood up and lifted his hood to obscure his face once more, something that was becoming a bit of a habit for him. But, what better way to keep others from finding you out huh? Also came in handy when he was avoiding treasure hunting parties while looking for something to sell since the cloak made him stupidly hard to detect.

And yet for some reason he was _still _getting that feeling someone was following him.

"This has been going on since floor one… I'm getting a little tired of it. All right then… let's see if you're willing to follow me." Noire murmured, and he took off down an alleyway.

After he flipped up onto the rooftops, Noire scanned around to see if he could see anyone climbing up or below him, but he didn't spot anyone climbing up, and the presence started to fade, oddly enough.

"Haa… yeesh, that is so strange, one minute it's there and the next it's gone." Noire muttered as he jumped back down to the alley and lowered his hood as he sat down, looking at his reflection in the water.

"What's strange?"

"GYAGH!"

Noire jumped when another reflection appeared behind him, the person wearing a hood that hid their face, though the voice obviously indicated a girl.

"What the… how did you sneak up on me!?" Noire demanded, instinctively putting his hand on his katana's hilt, and the girl giggled.

"You do remember you can't hurt other players in town right? It's a safe zone." The girl giggled again, and Noire moved his hand, his cloak moving to cover the hilt again.

"It was instinct. And are you going to answer my question or not?" Noire asked, a hard glance in his eyes, and he was notably irked when the girl giggled again.

"No need to be so cold and impatient. I'm a little surprised you didn't notice me earlier. I mean, I've been following you for what… hmm, almost ten floors now?" the girl mused, putting a finger on her chin, and her cloak shifted to reveal her dark purple dress that honestly revealed a bit too much cleavage, at least to someone as unversed in the other gender as Noire, who looked away to hide a reddening face.

"Wait… what do you mean by you've been following me for ten floors?" Noire asked again, crossing his arms.

"Just as I said." The girl stated.

"Then how come I didn't pick you up when I have a high detection skill?" Noire asked in a flat tone.

"You did feel a presence though, right?" The girl responded, tilting her head, and a lock of lavender hair fell out of her hood as she did.

"How would you know about that?" Noire demanded, and the girl lowered her hood, revealing the rest of her medium length hair and pinkish red violet eyes and a cute face accented by her smile as the cloak vanished into light.

"I'm Strea. Nice to meet you in person, Noire the Maverick Gamer." Strea said with a short little bow before standing up again, and Noire made the note she was a little shorter than him, a couple inches at best.

"Seems I have a bit of a reputation." Noire muttered, turning and looking down at his reflection in the water.

"At least you do among the assault team and some guilds. A reputation for not following orders and, as they say, going maverick and doing your own thing while showing little regard to others." Strea stated.

"I don't trust people… _that_ should be evident. How the hell do you know that much about me?" Noire asked, his hand going back to his sword.

"Like I said, I've been following you since floor one! Well, on and off anyway." Strea stated, and she had that same smile on her face, and Noire growled a bit.

"You do realize how crazy this is making you sound right? You've effectively been _stalking _me for months! That's kinda creepy." Noire stated. "Heck, why were you even following me in the first place?!"

"That's a bit of a secret." Strea stated with a wink, and Noire rolled his eyes with a sigh. "But, a solo player like you can only go so far, and you split off from your companion after floor two."

"Philia and I agreed to go solo after floor two. Though it's odd I haven't heard from her since then. I usuall manage to keep in contact with a few people for… reasons." Noire muttered.

"And that's coming from the person who says he doesn't trust anyone on a regular basis" Strea stated, and Noire was getting a little annoyed by the friendly tone. It was like he was already being psycho analyzed and this girl knew more about him than she should.

"Only for information and things of the like. It's good to have connections where you can." Noire stated as he opened his menu and rifled through it out of habit. "And with the assault team nearing floor thirty it'd be best if I kept those connections. Now, what is it that you want?"

Noire swiped his menu aside and turned towards Strea, a questioning look on his face and his eyes and blank as ever.

"Well, perhaps you could use a partner! I mean, I've pretty much been there since floor one in the Town of Beginnings, and two people can go further than one." Strea added.

"Were you in the Beta Test?" Noire asked.

"Nope." Strea answered, shaking her head.

"Then how do you…" Noire started.

"Just because one wasn't in the Beta Test doesn't mean you can't find out what you guys know. There's always ways of figuring things out in these games." Strea stated.

"I have a feeling you know more than you're letting on…" Noire muttered, lifting an eyebrow. "And I've learned a good deal to trust my gut."

"Well, how about I help you out a bit to show you what I can do? Let you evaluate my skills in a fight and in the field." Strea suggested, and Noire crossed his arms, closing his eyes as he thought.

_Whoever this Strea girl is, she knows well enough I don't trust people, but she is right in saying that I can only go so far by myself. And, if she managed to tail me for this long than she must be a skilled player… and here… ggh… I don't know… but… maybe…_

"All right then. I'm heading up to floor fifteen to find something in the dungeon there. Help me find it, and I'll evaluate your skills while we're there." Noire stated.

"What are we looking for?" Strea asked.

"Materials I need to upgrade this." Noire stated as he pulled out his sword. "I need to upgrade it one more time for it to be fully upgraded, and it should last me until about floor forty or a little bit past. Once we get there I'll need to find something better than this."

"Can I see it?" Strea asked, and Noire sighed, but handed her the sword, and she gave it a few swings. "It's pretty light for a katana, don't you think?"

"That's because it's a iaido blade, so it's supposed to be light, and the blades also shorter than the sheath if you look." Noire stated as he took the sword back and dropped it into the sheath.

"Hmm… well, I'm used to something heavier. You'll see once we go into the dungeon." Strea stated.

"I just hope we don't get killed." Noire muttered.

_**Floor 15, Dungeon**_

Noire and Strea leapt down from the ledge in the forest like dungeon of this floor, and Noire brought up his map, pinpointing the location he was looking for.

"That room should be around here somewhere…" Noire muttered, looking around and back down at the map occasionally as they kept moving.

"There's not a lot of monsters around…" Strea muttered as she adjusted her two handed sword.

"It's because most of the areas were cleared out when the raid party came through here. I would know because I was part of said raid party on this floor." Noire stated, rounding a corner without diverting his attention from the map. "Weird, I don't remember this pathway."

After the two moved down the path a ways, Noire's map filling out as they moved, eventually winding up in a wide clearing with light filtering through each and every gigantic tree.

"Y'know for a dungeon it's not very… dungeon-y…" Noire muttered, flipping a hand around.

"That's not a word." Strea chuckled.

"I know it's not. It's called a… Uh… I don't know. But, still, hopefully I can find what I'm looking for here." Noire stated.

"What is it you're looking for? I know it's a material but…" Strea murmured as they proceeded towards the middle of the clearing.

"A certain kind of ingot I need from here. Wasn't sure where to find it before but now I'm hoping I can find it here. Of course we want to be careful of any kind of monster that might show up." Noire stated as he started looking around.

"So, what kind of ingot are we looking for?" Strea asked as she lifted a rock.

"It should look kinda like an emerald in color. Or so my informant stated… Argo that info better have been right." Noire muttered, using his sword as leverage to lift another rock. "If it's not here then…"

Noire was cut off when a roar sounded and a shadow swooped over the trees.

"Uh… I hope that's not what I think it is…" Noire mumbled as he started backing up a bit.

"Found it!" Strea chuckled, lifting up the green ingot and letting the rock she'd lifted fall, and another roar sounded, the girl fumbling with the object in her hands. "Noire… what was that…"

"Please tell me I'm not right…" Noire whispered when the shadow swooped over again, and after a rush of wind that buffeted the two a large, forest green _dragon _landed in the clearing and roared, emerald green fire visibly burning in it's throat.

**[Emeraude the Forest Guardian]**

"Well shit…" Noire muttered. "Strea… we need to go… _now._"

Noire was backing up slowly as Emeraude scanned around, it's red eyes gleaming.

"I… agree with you on that!" Strea nodded and started backing away herself. "Noire… is…"

"Don't speak… I'll answer any questions once we get out of here… just… be careful… what level are you?" Noire asked as they got closer to the exit of the clearing, but it was achingly slow, and Emeraude was starting to prowl towards the two with heavy lurches that cleared a _very _concerning distance with each step.

"38." Strea stated.

"You're two levels below me… see how it's cursor is a dark red? That means it's stronger than use and we need to be careful…" Noire stated.

"But… we're on floor fifteen and I'm almost forty while you are. Than…" Strea started.

"Dragons have really high defense, and it's incredibly hard to hit their weak points. It'd be better if we just left and…" Noire flinched when Emeraude leapt up and bounded over him and Strea, blocking the exit. "Or… we fight it because we don't have any other choice… not what I planned."

Strea snickered and threw the ingot to Noire, drawing her sword.

"I said I would show you what I can do right? Well… maybe this is the chance we needed." Strea chuckled.

"WHAT!? Strea we shouldn't fight this thing!" Noire snapped, but Strea had already shot off, avoiding Emeraude's swipe and slashing it's head with her blade, and Noire growled as he stored the ingot in his inventory. "Don't be so reckless!"

Noire dived it and deflected a swipe from one of the dragon's paws, quickly slashing the pad, but that barely did any sort of damage.

"Oh you are kidding me." Noire sighed as he jumped back, and when he saw the monster open it's maw and flames began to gather, his eyes widened. "Strea get out of the way!"

Strea turned to Noire when the other player yelled, and in the next second Noire had grabbed the girl and shot up into a tree just as the jet of emerald green fire was released from the dragons fang lines maw, the flames bursting across the clearing and blowing through the trees.

"See, this is why I said we should leave. We'd be dead if we got caught in that. Come on, he can't leave the clearing, even if he can block the exit. We'll hunt around for a bit before heading back to town." Noire stated as he moved to some trees further off, Strea still in his arms until they were a sfe distance away, but, what he feared came into reality when the dragon burst through the trees and knocked the two players to the ground.

"Shit! That things territory is bigger than I thought!" Noire gasped as he and Strea stood as Emeraude landed and gave a guttural growl.

"He doesn't seem too happy with us…" Strea muttered.

"It's a dragon and we're in his territory… of course he's not happy… man this is not a good situation." Noire grumbled.

"So… what do we do?" Strea asked.

"That's what I'm trying to think of… we could teleport out…"

"They won't work in this area… I think we'll have to fight." Strea stated as she shook her head.

"Wait, how do you know this is an ant-crystal zone?!" Noire asked in shock and Strea stood up again, lifting her sword.

"Just follow my lead. There's always a way to trip up the AI in these games, right?" Strea chuckled, and Noire's eyes widened at having something he said used against him.

"Alright… what do we need to do?" Noire nodded and stood up, placing his right hand on his blades hilt.

_Guess I was right when I said she knows more than she was letting on… if this gets me killed though I will never forgive this. _

"Alright, see how Emeraude moves? When it swipes, it tends to go a bit high, and since we're much smaller we can get an opening to slash at it's stomach." Strea stated.

"Don't forget those horns… unless you want to get impaled then you'll want to watch out." Noire stated.

"Right… but, it won't be trying to gore us when using it's claws or breathing fire, then we'll have a chance!" Strea stated, and the two dived out of the way as another gout of fire blazed past. "Like that!"

"You are either a genius or insane." Noire muttered as the fire stopped and Emeraude shook his head.

"So, sound like a plan?" Strea asked.

"I'd prefer to just get out of here and live instead of risking my life like this, but yeah, sounds good." Noire nodded, and his grip on his sword tightened as he let out a nervous breath. The odds of them dying here were pretty high, but it seemed options were running out, because this dragon wasn't letting them go easily.

"Alright… I'll start be defleting it's swipe, and once the opening is there, rush out and cut through it's stomach, which should do more damage than if we attacked it's scales."

Strea readied her sword as they moved out again, and when Emeraude swiped, her large blade glowed, and Strea smacked the massive clawed paw aside, and Noire shot out with light streaming from his sheath as he shot underneath Emeraude, multiple streams of flashes shooting out before Noire reached the other side as his blade hit the sheath, and Emeraude had taken much more damage than before, and Noire actually smirked now.

"This strategy could work." Noire snickered as he made his way back towards Strea, but when he leapt into the air the dragon clubbed him with its tail and sent him flying into a tree. "GAGH! Dammit, that one hurt…"

Noire stood up after hitting the ground, watching his health fall by a good deal, barely going into yellow.

"Noire! I need a little help here!" Strea yelled as she deflected another swipe from Emeraude, getting clipped by a claw as she dodged. "How does this thing do so much damage?"

"Should be a little obvious. Just keep tight and avoid getting hit!" Noire yelled, but then Emeraude stuck it's tail in the ground, and roots began shooting out at Noire, and he had to pull through with some fancy dodges to avoid getting skewered by one, cutting down ones that got in the way before rolling out on the other side, where Strea was now backed into a corner with Emeraude looming over her.

"Just hold on!" Noire yelled as he took a stance and counted down. "Five… four…"

"Noire hurry it up!" Strea yelled as she narrowly avoided a claw that jabbed into a tree.

"Three… two… one…" Noire muttered, the glow from the sheath getting brighter with each second as Emeraude kept trying to skewer Strea, thank fully though it was so large it's blows weren't too hard to dodge at that range. "Might want to get down! Vorpal Striker!"

Noire pulled his blade out, and like in the fight with Nemean, multiple waves of silver light flashed out and blazed towards the monster before him, going right through it, but Noire's eyes widened when this only brought Emeraude down to the red zone in it's health, and the dragon turned towards him and roared in anger as it's eyes blazed with that same emerald fire.

"Shit… I thought that would've worked…" Noire muttered as he moved back when Emeraude began lurching towards him, fire flickering in the beasts maw, and a root shot upr from the ground, tripping Noire, and the players eyes widened as he looked up at the hulking beast, which right now looked like the visage of _Death _itself as it loomed over him with the fire in it's maw ready to roast the Beater where he was.

"Am I going to die here like this? Is this really it for me?" Noire muttered in fear, Strea's yells not reaching his ears, and then his face shifted from fear to shock when Emeraude lurched and burst into polygons suddenly, it's health hitting zero. "W-what just happened? Strea… was…"

When Noire looked directly in front of him, it wasn't Strea he saw, but a hooded player wielding a dagger back handed, and since the hood wasn't really a cloak and just a short cape, it was easy to tell the player was a girl from the rest of the outfit, which varied in shades of blue.

"Why is there something familiar about this person?" Noire muttered as he cut himself free and stood up, the mystery player rifling through their menu. "Hey! Where the heck were you this whole time to just suddenly come in and kill that thing!?"

When Noire yelled that and approached, the player whipped around and swung her dagger at him, but noire was quick to bring up his blade and block the strike, a stern look in his eyes as the blades sparked against each other, and the dagger wielding player seemed surprised to see Noire.

"N-Noire!?" the player gasped, and her high pitched voice was oddly familiar to Noire.

"How the heck do you know my name?" Noire asked with that same look and a flat tone as was his usual. Strea meanwhile was looking between the two with a raised eyebrow.

"Noire… i-it's me… Philia…" The player stepped back and pulled down her hood, and Noire's eyes widened when he saw it was Philia as he stored his blade.

"No way…" Noire muttered, and Strea finally seemed to get it.

"Oh! She's the one you met on floor one! Wow, must have been a while for you two huh?" Strea asked, and the other two were just silent as they tried to process that it was really the other one they were looking at since it had been months without both seeing the other or even contacting the other.

"Well… seems some talking is going to have to be done." Strea mused.


	5. A Long Disussion

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 05: A Long Discussion**

_**Floor 11, Taft/Tavern**_

Noire, Philia, and Strea were gathered around a table amid the buzz of the tavern and other players, the two solo players giving each other flat glares while Strea looked between the two to get a better image in her head, appearances were easy, but equipment was something else to think about since it was likely the outfits wouldn't change much until later.

Noire: A collared, grey, fur lined swordsman's coat that ended just below his rib cage, leaving the black shirt underneath to stay a little loose, his hands covered by the black fingerless gloves he had, the metal backing leaving a slight reflection, black slacks with a grey belt that his sword was currently tied to, and light grey armored boots, the entire outfit covered by his black hooded cloak.

Philia: A blue, hooded half cape that covered her shoulders and upper arms, somewhat hiding the armored, dark blue top that left her upper back bare, her shoulders, covered by sectioned armor and a detached sleeve on one arm, the other with a leather guard and dark blue gloves on her hands, and more light armor on her legs with a pair of small shorts and then dark stockings, and simple boots on her feet, her dagger on her waist.

Strea: A dark lavender and black battle dress with detached sleeves connected to the broached collar, and another skirt under the dress, dark leggings like Philia and lightly colored shoes, with very little armor on her, if any.

"Alright, why the heck were you out there in the dungeon?" Noire finally broke the silence, and his differently colored eyes had a slight glare to them as he looked at Philia, who was casually twirling a strand of her hair.

"Why the heck should I tell you? It's none of your business. What I want to know is why a high caliber solo player like you was cowering in fear like a child when that boss was in the red zone? I thought you took any challenge." Philia muttered in an annoyed tone, leaning on the table, and Noire's eyebrow actually twitched.

"Put yourself in my shoes for a few seconds: My best attack, which takes five seconds to charge, only succeeded in pissing the boss off despite bringing it down to red, and said boss was a massive forest dragon that could cover as much ground in one step than we could while sprinting in a few seconds, and we just so happened to be on a tight path. I didn't have the time to charge another attack because I would've been roasted in five seconds, and not only that, I was tripped rather unexpectedly and was then looking up at the maw of an angry dragon ready to turn me into a smoldering pile of polygons. I was looking at Death in the face! _You _try not panicking in that situation!" Noire had an angry tone to his voice, and Philia just rolled her eyes. "But, what I want to know myself, is why you attacked me on sight when I got your attention back there. You do know that could put you at orange for a while right?"

"It was a reflex. Besides, in my business I need to be cautious if I want to make a pay. Besides I didn't even know it was you so how was I supposed to be sure you weren't some hooligan trying to get the item I was hunting."

"And what kind of business would this be where you need to keep on guard? Treasure hunting I presume?" Noire asked.

"None of your business. Why would a Beater care?" Philia asked.

"Many reasons. Information, perhaps things that weren't in the Beta I wouldn't know about, being one of them. It pays to keep a steady flow of it, granted sometimes it gets me in more trouble than it's worth." Norie sighed and leaned forward a bit, making a circle on the table with his finger, a regular habit of his. "Still doesn't really explain that though. The second I yelled you just snapped around and attacked. Better be thankful my reaction time is decent or else there'd have been a problem."

"Like I care. I got what I wanted from that thing, no thanks to you two weakening it. I'd been trying to think of how to take that dragon down for a while, and guess what, two players dumb enough to go hunting in it's territory unaware just happened to come by. Boy did I count myself as lucky." Philia chuckled, and Noire growled.

"For the record, _I _wanted to hightail it out of there and not fight Emeraude. I had the material I was looking for and just wanted to go. It was her idea to stay and fight" Noire stated, and Strea chuckled nervously, and Philia laughed in a dry manner.

"So the Maverick Gamer wanted to run from a fight? What's your level, like, 25?" Philia scoffed.

"43. I've been sticking to some of the lower floors for my own reasons. That, and I don't really like working with the raid team. They actually sent me on a suicide mission on floor six, but I came back alive anyway. Besides, like I told you a few months ago, I don't really trust a lot of people. And what happened to the friendly girl I met then huh?" Noire asked.

"Stuff happened. And don't ask because I'm not going to bother telling you." Philia snapped, and she and Noire started glaring at each other again.

"O-kay, maybe you two should just calm down a bit? I mean, shouldn't you be glad that you ran into each other again after several months?" Strea asked.

"Depends on how you look at things. A reunion like this isn't exactly very pleasant to deal with." Noire grumbled.

"Hmph. What were you looking for in that dungeon anyway?" Philia asked with a bored tone.

"This." Noire brought down his inventory menu and produced the emerald green ingot, "It's a material I need to upgrade my sword again: Ilisvare Ingot. Only the dragon in the dungeon produces this since the ore is technically it's excrement."

This was met with grossed out looks from both girls.

"So… wait… you needed _dragon_ _poop _to upgrade your sword? Blegh. I don't care how rare it is, I am _not _touching that." Philia made a noise in imitation of vomiting, and Strea literally looked like she was trying not to since she'd actually touched the ingot.

"That is gross on too many levels…" Strea grumbled, a hand over her mouth.

"Girls." Noire muttered as he rolled his eyes and stored the ingot in his inventory again. "It's not like there's a problem with it, it's just a chunk of compressed minerals that the dragon consumed, and furthermore just a jumble of code, a bunch of ones and zeroes."

"There's still a problem with it!" Philia snapped. "Besides, what I got is much more valuable. One of the dragon's scales. That's valuable enough to last me a while."

"Yeah, good luck finding a merchant with enough Col to buy the thing off you for full price." Noire scoffed, leaning on a hand. "So, I guess with explanations done then we can get on our separate ways again?"

"That sounds like it'd be good." Philia stated.

"H-hold up! Wouldn't it be better if we all traveled together? I mean… it'd be safer and hunting certain enemies wouldn't be so hard… and with a party you wouldn't have to go hunting for monsters out in the boonies like you do!" Strea stood up as the two solo players got ready to leave, and both of them had a flat look on their face.

"That would completely defeat the point of being a solo player." Both Noire and Philia said this at the same time, and they shot glares at each other again.

"Well… I mean, you can only get so far as a solo player right? So, by that logic it is best to stick with a party, even if it's just a couple of people. And even if it's still a little early…"

"It's April, and all this madness started around September." Noire stated.

"Well… even then, we're climbing this castle right? And wouldn't it be best to increase your odds of survival as much as possible?" Strea asked.

"Yeah but if we run into some kind of trap because somebody winds up making the wrong choice it could be the end of _everyone _in an instant. I've heard about it happening before." Philia stated, but there was something in her voice that said that she hadn't just heard about it.

"Then again, despite Strea being… kinda reckless, all of us here are smart enough to know better… at least, I hope so." Noire mumbled the last bit, "And, I did say I'd give you an evaluation since even _if _I said hightail it you'd just tag along anyway. So… I can say that you pass Strea."

At that, the lavender haired girl's eyes lit up, and Philia shot up again, slamming her hands on the table.

"Now hold on! I thought you said you didn't trust people! We argued more than once before floor two about that!"

"And who was it who said they just wanted to stick with me because it would be pragmatic? Oh yeah, that was you Philia. Think of it as this same situation. I don't trust Strea fully yet, but she's a good player and smart to boot. Heck, I was too disoriented to come up with a plan to fight Emeraude at the time and she came up with one on the fly based on a short observation. Having someone like that working with me could prove useful in the long run when thought about. Now, you're free to go on your merry treasure hunter way and maybe we'll run into each other on later floors. Who knows? Not really the concern of a Beater, is it?" Noire put a smirk on his face, and Philia's face went red with anger. And she looked between Noire and Strea, a bit of a look in her eyes.

"I swear, if you pull us into some weird situation I will gut you on the spot, you here?!" Philia stuck a finger in Noire's direction.

"Hey, I've stayed off the assault team so that I can explore more of Aincraid. I've been filling out plenty of maps while the assault team worked on the main dungeon. Even if it's a death game, SAO is still an MMO, and I intend to find a way to have fun here. I've always been one to explore and go on a bit of an adventure. And that's exactly my intention. So, tag along if you want, just know we'll be heading to some very interesting places. I'm not going to leave any place unexplored, and I'll only move up floors when I feel like it. Besides, what's the point of being a Beater if you can't find some way to be helpful even if people hate you?" Noire casually leaned on the table with one hand on his waist and using the other for support, and he snickered when Philia flipped between her present anger, curiosity, and a few other emotions, within the span of a few moments.

"You… are one incredibly confusing person, you know that?" Philia muttered, crossing her arms.

"Well, it's an MMO, people don't always act the way they do IRL in places like this. I'm the exact same way." Noire gave a brief shrug and then stretched his arms. "Well, it's late and I'm tired after today. I heard the assault team made it to floor 28, so maybe we can head on that way sometime soon. Do some spelunking, monster hunting, yadah yadah. G'night." Noire put his hands behind his head and gave a short wave as he trotted up the stairs of the inn, and Philia growled again, punching the wall again.

"Stupid stupid stupid! Who does he think he is!?" Philia snapped, and a few other players turned towards her.

"Philia… maybe you're not seeing the point here… I mean… it was made a little obvious but I was kinda tailing Noire since floor one, so I saw quiet a lot of his character. You'd be surprised how nice he can actually be when it's needed. I mean… and even today you saw it, he can be weak… it's a game, but he's still human." Strea stated, and Philia sat down with another little growl.

"It's just crazy. Haven't seen him in nearly six months and he's just even more of an enigma. It's frustrating seeing someone like that. I heard one time when he was on the assault team he actually punched the raid leader and then pinned him to the ground." Philia stated.

"I know. I saw that. It was after they sent him on that suicide mission. He was distracting some chaser enemies so they could beat the boss, and afterwards he actually made a valid point by asking them where they stood deciding to send someone to what could have been their death. But… yeah… he is an enigma. An enigma containing a puzzle that's hard to solve. But… maybe there's a reason for his behavior?" Strea's suggestion just made Philia shake her head.

"I still don't like him much. He may not be a bad guy, but he can also be a grade A asshole when he wants to be. He's also a little on the arrogant side. There's nothing to take him off his high horse." Philia muttered.

"But you saw it even today. Facing Emeraude, he was scared… even with his skills, he's still afraid of dying… I think that's what drives him. He wants to live, he wants to get out of here, and he'll try to find a way to get as many people out as possible… but to do that he has to play the bad guy and take the role of a Beater… at least, that's what I got from some of my observations." Strea stated.

"Y'know it's kinda creepy how you know so much about him. You sure you're not… y'know?" Philia asked.

"No. I just think he's an interesting individual, and so, I wanted to learn more about him." Strea stated.

Off in the stair well, Noire was actually listening to the conversation below, and he was a little lost for words.

"Talk about strange. Well, can't really get much stranger now that we're locked in a game of death… this is our reality for now… might as well make the most of it right?"

Noire sighed and headed up the rest of the stairs.

_Things are gonna get weird… I don't know how I know… I just do…_


	6. A Mysterious Quest

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 06: A mysterious quest**

_**October 27**__**th**__**, 2023**_

_**Floor 48, Heimstr**_

Noire sat down heavily on one of the benches around the town square fountain, letting out a small sound as he stretched.

"God dammit Philia, how the hell do you find out about these crazy treasure hunting quests anyway?" Noire mumbled as Philia and Strea approached, the former with their (more like _her) _most recent prize covered by a cloth for secrecy.

"I have my sources just like you do. It's not just Beta Testers who know a bit more about this game. Besides, you even said it yourself, _you _got to floor eight in there." Philia replied with a flat look towards Noire, who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but all in all we managed to get to floor ten. But, being a Beta Tester, much less a Beater like me, kinda got pointless after that when _everything _started becoming unknown to even us. But, information brokers are always finding stuff out and I am surprisingly still making a good income on maps. Exploring extra dungeons helps." Noire snickered as he brought up the latest map they'd filled out of the side dungeon on this floor.

"Were side dungeons like that even in the Beta?" Strea asked as she leaned over Noire's shoulder to look down at the map, and Philia notably flinched a bit.

"Yes and no. Only a few floors had them, and even then we didn't go too far into them since we were so focused on going as far as we could… I mean, we had a few months since it was summer break, but even then, we only got to ten floors, and no look, almost near a year and we're already halfway. I'd say we've made good progress." Noire chuckled, closing his menu. "Now, I wonder how much Argo will pay me this time for this map data?"

"Is that _all _you ever think about when it comes to this stuff?" Philia asked.

"Hey, I'm saving up for my own place on floor 50 since you _insist _on not getting one when we could with our combined funds." Noire retorted, and Strea switched to looking over his left shoulder to keep looking at the map.

"I may be a treasure hunter, but I am _not _getting a place in that city! I already told you that!" Philia snapped.

"Algade isn't that bad of a city! It's the second largest city in Aincrad after the Town of Beginnings, and sure, it's kinda confusing but when you know where you're going it's no problem." Nore stated, and Philia shook her head.

"No, no, and no! _I _want to get some place nicer that's on some of the higher floors. Besides, even if I'm a treasure hunter I'm not gonna live in some messy city like Algade. That one is final! I don't care if you want to stay there, we can just split off the party." Philia stated.

"Says the girl who panicked and clung to Noire like glue back on floor 40 when you got pulled out of that trap." Strea giggled, and Philia growled.

"Shut it missy." Philia muttered.

"Whatever. Well, let's go find a vendor who'll buy…" Noire started, but Philia stuck up a finger.

"Ah ah ah… I'm keeping this one for myself this time. Besides, I think I've got enough money for now." Philia stated, depositing the covered treasure into her inventory.

"Just what kind of place are you saving up for anyway? Also, what _is _that thing?" Noire asked as he stood up.

"None of your business. You'll see if you drop by." Philia chuckled.

"R-ight… the odds of that seem low to me for some reason." Noire sighed and crossed his arms. "So, what's out next stop hmm? A mapping venture or another quest?"

"How about a quest on one of the more recent floors?" Strea suggested, "Maybe we could get another rare item or something similar from it?"

"That sounds good! But, what quest should we undertake though?" Philia muttered.

Noire put a hand on his chin, and then his eyes widened when he got an odd feeling, and, strangely enough, it was coming from his _sword._

"_Wielder of the blade of moonlight… heed the call sent to you and find the New Moon Castle to claim a prize much more powerful than this blade… but heed warning, you will be treading into territory that is riddled with dangers and trials…"_

The voice that Noire heard had not real sound to it, seeming to change between various tones and gender inclinations, a weird echo and waver to the sound, and he looked down when his menu opened up to the quest screen.

_Trial of the Black Light Blade_

Noire raised an eyebrow when he saw that.

'_Weird… why would this randomly show up now of all times? And it's here because of Moonlight Sliver? I had no idea it was also a quest trigger item… maybe it was because we needed to get to the higher floors… but… New Moon Castle? Where is that? I've never even heard of it? Well… if it's a quest location then I'm sure we'd be able to find it with help from the system… but what floor is it on?'_

While Noire was lost in thought, the two girls had peered over his shoulder and read the quest description.

"Weird… why did that show up?" Philia muttered.

"Well, it did mention Noire's sword… maybe it has something to do with that." Strea shrugged.

"Man talk about lucky… a quest triggered by a rare weapon you have. Wonder what it'll lead to at the end?" Philia mused, already thinking.

"I can _hear _you two ya' know?" Noire grumled as he closed his menu, his left eye twitched slightly.

"I figured. But, it mentioned trials… and really, only an idiot would take a quest as suspicious as this one. I mean, one just randomly popping up in your menu? Kinda fishy. But, having gotten to know you over these past few months I know well enough you _are _the type of idiot to do this." Philia stated.

"I AM NOT AN IDIOT! And so what if it's odd, it was triggered by my weapon, so why not take it. Besides, you agreed to taking on a new quest, and this seems perfect. Maybe we'll get a chance to test our skills during this and find some stuff, who knows? That… and I'm actually kind of eager to find this place." Noire stated, crossing his arms.

"See! That's what I mean! You're willing to jump into danger headfirst so long and you can have some fun! Do you not care if you die or something!? You said it yourself at points, this game is literally life and death! So why are you so willing to do something this crazy!?" Philia shouted, and Noire seemed surprised for a moment.

"What? We've been doing just _that _since April of last year and just _now _you bring it up when it's something concerning some dumb trials that involve my sword? Heck, some of those were _your _idea!" Noire made the point to say the last one with a bit of emphasis. Philia was a risk taker at times, and more than once they'd _both _saved each other's hides for various reasons.

"I… I just… don't trust this for some reason… I mean… you might not come back from this one… we have no idea how dangerous this could be, and when we _did _do those quests and such we knew what we were getting into… this time we don't. It just… concerns me." Philia stated sheepishly, hugging her chest a bit as she avoided looking at Noire, and Strea was looking between the two with a curious glance.

"_Concerned!? _You were giving me the cold shoulder for _weeks _and _now _you say you're worried about me!? What was with all those rants about how much of a stupid jerk I am huh? Where's the…"

"NOIRE STOP!" Strea snapped, and Noire shut up. It was not good to get Strea mad, as he had learned after an incident that ended with him getting slapped across the face _hard _before getting teased by Strea in the ensuing embarrassing situation."What about you? Wouldn't you be concerned if Philia or I were going to go into a situation like this? You're not acting quite like how you did a few months ago either, and you always state not trusting people, but you seem to trust us just fine and show enough concern to step in and take blows every so often. What do you have to say to that?"

Noire's face reddened and he turned to the side with a huff, and Strea grinned.

"Hmm hmm, someone's embarrassed again… how cute!"

Noire yelped when Strea grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hold, burying his face in her chest and making the teen wig out while she just laughed, and Philia was _fuming _with that same look she'd get whenever Strea teased Noire in that particular way for laughs.

"Strea… cut it… out! Can't… breath!" Noire yelled, flailing his arms like an idiot.

"Hahahaha! You'll be fine! Not like it hurts!" Strea giggled.

"I may not… be able to feel pain… but I can sure as hell feel this!" Noire snapped, and Strea giggled again, and Philia was just rigid.

After a bit of struggling, Noire finally managed to yank himself free, and he landed on the ground with a heavy thud, panting a bit.

"Why the hell do you do that? Do you _ever _get tired of teasing me Strea?" Noire muttered as he planted his hands on his knees.

"Nope! It's too fun! That, and it's fun getting to see a side of you that doesn't come out often." Strea snickered.

"You just _love _learning as much as you can about me huh? What is it, like some kind of hobby for you!?" Noire snapped, and he flinched when he felt a bad presence near him. "Not again…"

Noire yelped again when Philia put him into a head lock with her knife at his throat, though being in a safe area the blade was blocked from getting too close.

"Why is it _every _time that happens you always do this!? AND WHY ME!?" Noire yelled as he rage again.

"Just sit still and you won't get hurt… and don't let that happen again." Philia muttered, giving Noire a blank look.

"Hey it's not my fault Strea teases me so much! AND LET ME GO THIS IS TOO TIGHT!" Noire snapped as he started struggling, and Philia just tightened her grip, making Noire freak out a bit. "Is it possible to be suffocated the death here? I think it might be!"

"You'll be fine." Philia muttered.

Strea giggled as Noire managed to free himself and then wound up getting into yet another one of their usual snark wars… though Strea _always _teased the two by calling them lovers spats, which always got pricelessly embarrassed reactions.

"Another lovers spat you two? That's the third time today!" Strea snickered.

"SHUT IT!" Both of the accused yelped as their faces reddened.

**Night time/Inn**

Noire flopped down onto the bed with a heavy sigh, wearing his night attire of white shirt and loose grey shorts.

"So tomorrow we're heading out to find this New Moon Palace. Still… I wonder, why did a quest like that just suddenly appear in my quest list? Were there prereqs to this that I didn't know about until now or something?"

Noire put a hand over his eyes as he let out another breath, letting his other hand hang off the side of the wide mattress.

'_It's been over a year since we started all this… what's going on outside in the real world? What's going on with our families and friends? And what about us? What about our real bodies? Are we just laying on some hospital bed barely being kept alive, hooked up to machines while this game continues on? And what's been done for everyone who's died in this death trap of a game? Here, some people died heroes… but that's only here… no one will know what happened here… of the amazing things we experience alongside the horrors… horrors like the Laughing Coffin guild… none of this means anything… it's just an illusion… a bunch of code… even our bodies here are just a jumble of code arranged to look like we do…'_

Noire raised his hand up and spread out his fingers. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to feel his own hand, anything real. Virtual Reality could only replicate so much of reality with what they'd done with it.

'_But… this is out reality right now. Until we get to the top of this tower Aicrad is out world and home… a place Kayaba Akihiko tailored… just what is he up to right now? Is he looking down on this world and grinning at the misery he brought about? Gloating like some sort of evil deity looking down at his world? Why? Why did he want to do this? Create something that's gotten thousands of people killed?'_

A knock on his door separated Noire from his thoughts, and he sat up, leaning on his arms.

"Hold on a second!"

Noire stood up and undid the lock on the door, cracking it open and peering out.

"Philia?"

Noire opened the door the rest of the way, and Philia was standing there holding a pillow over his blue night dress.

"H-hi… I… I wanted to apologize for earlier today. I…"

"Stop."

Philia looked up when Noire put a hand up.

"I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't have snapped like that, it was uncalled for. It's… mmm…" Noire grumbled and poked his head out, looking around.

"What's wrong Noire?" Philia asked as she looked to the sides.

"Look… I know it's kinda weird… but… can we talk in here? I'm a little paranoid and don't want to get eavesdropped on…" Noire muttered.

"Uh… sure…" Philia murmured, walking in and taking a seat on the edge of the bed, and Noire took the desk.

"As I was saying… I'm… not really used to anyone being concerned about me… I always shoot it off on my own. Truth is… I don't have any actual _friends _IRL since I'm kinda timid. And… in a situation like this… I'm kinda on edge…" Noire muttered.

"I… it's also kind of my fault…" Philia muttered. "I… I was always acting hostile towards you because… because I was sacred… the reason is because… after we split up after the first floor I wound up meeting some people and we became good friends. And… after we'd spent a while together, we went hunting down in one of the newer dungeons where the raid party wasn't looking… and… and…"

Philia stopped when Noire sat down beside her and put a hand on her head.

"It's alright. You don't have to say anymore. Some people would just say it happens all the time… but, I won't. You lost people you care about and it hurt, so you started keeping people away because you didn't want to lose anyone else, right?" Noire chuckled, giving a small grin. "Look… the reason I kept myself away from others was because _I _didn't want to lose anyone if I got close to them… but… guess now I have found a couple people I'm close too. You and Strea were honestly my first friends… and even if this world is virtual that'll be true when we leave too. I kinda hope I can meet you guys for real. These past few months have been fun, dontcha think?"

Philia just looked at Noire in slight surprise as the boy spoke. This was the one side of Noire nobody really ever saw, a side that was kinder and caring than anyone would ever think could be there underneath the cold, blunt, calculating exterior of the Maverick Gamer.

"Ngh… NOIRE!"

Noire flinched, expecting to get hit, but instead he felt Philia wrap her arms around him and bury her face into his chest.

"I… I don't want you to take this quest! I don't want to lose you because of something like this! I'm worried you might not come back from this… it seems so dangerous… it scares me… I just don't want to lose anyone else I care about!"

Noire just put a hand on Philai's head and gently stroked her hair as the girl sobbed into his shirt.

"It'll be fine. I've got you and Strea with me. I'm sure it'll be easy for us, and we'll make it out. I don't think we'll have to go far, and besides, we're all high levels, so we shouldn't have trouble. I'll be fine and we'll make it out and then keep exploring this world and having more of those adventures that keep putting a smile on your face. I can tell it all makes you happy, and you're having fun. Like I told you before, even if SAO is some kind of death game, it's still a place where we can have fun at the same time. It's one of the things I learned while playing solo, is that there's so much to see here, and I don't want to miss out on any of it before we leave here. I promise, I'll stay alive until we can get back to the real world. Besides, I can't just let a party member die on me now can I? We've been sticking with each other for six months now, and I'd hate to see you or Strea go. We got a deal miss treasure hunter?"

"You better keep that promise you hear me! Soft hearted idiot…" Philia sobbed, holding on tighter, and Noire nodded.

"You can stay here tonight if you want. I'll sleep on the floor."

"No… I… I want you to stay beside me… just don't go… I don't want you too…" Philia mumbled.

"Hagh… alright… though I think it's kinda awkward." Noire mumbled, and Philia pulled him down.

"Just shut up…" Philia sighed.

"And you're holding on a bit too tight… pah, whatever…" Noire sighed himself and looked up at the ceiling as he and Philia moved to a straight position, going back to his thoughts on this entire thing for a while as Philia fell asleep.

'_Those who have lost people like Philia has are the ones this world has affected the most. The pain they have is unlike any other kind out there… I _have _to make sure we can get out of here so that nobody has to deal with those kinds of things ever again. I'd never forgive myself if I couldn't find some way… even if I'm not part of the assault team, I can still help make sure as many people survive as possible with what I do…'_

Noire turned a bit and looked at Philia, once again confirming those thoughts in his head. He wanted to help her get out of this world and back to the real one… he wanted to help anyone he could.

"Noire… aishi… teru…" Philia mumbled before rolling over, leaving Noire wide eyed a bit.

"Did she just say…?" Noire started, then his look went flat when he heard suppressed giggling. "Strea, how long are you going to hide there? I may not be able to detect you but I know when you're nearby!" he whispered loudly, and Strea's lilac haired head popped out from behind the door.

"Sorry, but I followed Philia to see where she was going. I have to say that was a pretty cute moment you two had. And I didn't know you could be so kind." Strea put a hand near her mouth and snickered while giving a small wink, and Noire growled, yelping when Philia rolled back over and yanked him down while still asleep, nuzzling into his side and making him blush heavily, and Strea tried not to laugh.

"Oh shut up. Sheesh, you're like a younger sibling." Noire muttered.

"And you're like an older brother. At least to me. But… Philia does care about you a lot. I'm not sure how I know, but she does, even if she doesn't act like it sometimes. So, you better keep that promise or else we'll _both _be unhappy with you gone. Night Noire."

Strea gave a short wave and vanished after shutting the door, and Noire let his head sink into the pillow, letting out another heavy sigh as his blue and green eyes bore into the ceiling above.

"I don't feel like I have a reason to be worried about this quest… but… it does seem a bit more dangerous… just what are these trials it's talking about? And… what's waiting for me at the end of it?"

Noire sighed again and put his free arm behind his head, figuring there was no point dwelling on it too much right now. He'd get his answers tomorrow, definitely.


	7. The New Moon Palace Trials

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 07: The New Moon Palace Trials**

_**October 28**__**th **__**2023**_

_**Floor 49, Lunar Woods**_

'_Kind of odd I expected the New Moon Palace to be in this location… way too fitting if you ask me.'_

Noire hacked aside another group of shrubbery on the path he, Philia, and Strea were following through the quest guide.

"How much further?" Strea asked as she hopped over a root.

"Not much further. Look over there, you can already see the spires. I'm surprised nobodies found this place yet to be honest. Kinda strange, giant black castle in the middle of the woods, you'd think someone would've pointed it out before." Noire muttered, pointing off to the black spires between the branches not far off to the right. "Then again these woods are pretty thick, and the Assault Team doesn't do too much searching unlike treasure hunting parties/guilds like us."

"You've got a point there. Heck, how many times have we run into the head treasure hunting guild now? What was their name again…?" Philia muttered.

"You mean the Atelier Aurum? I think we do whenever we head into the labyrinth to get anything the damn raid teams missed when they were scouting it out." Noire sighed, swinging off a branch since he was bored, flipping up higher and higher so he could get a better view since the tree he climbing was pretty tall.

"And there he goes, being a monkey again." Philia sighed, crossing her arms.

"I think it's pretty neat. He may not be SAO's fastest player, but he sure is the most agile." Strea stated.

"Are you kidding? He's got one of the fastest fighting style in the entire game! It's just his reaction time that needs a bit of work. That's what you get for spamming high level sword skills all the time like he does." Philia stated.

"Oh, trying to defend him now? Are you putting him into a bit of a higher standing because of your little crush?" Strea giggled, a teasing tone in her voice.

"Oh shut it! You were following him for months on end whereas _I _was doing other things! What about you? How do _you _feel about Noire huh, Ms. Stalker?!" Philia snapped, taking a quick look back up to see if Noire was fine, though he'd vanished from view a few seconds ago.

"Do you need to ask? I care about Noire just as much as you do. I was intrigued with the way he thought about this whole game, even if he seemed gloomy and uncaring, and I decided to learn more, and in the process I guess you could say I fell for everything he is, from the cold, silent Beater to the kind and caring person he can be. I'll stay by his side until we reach the end of all this and make it out of all , teasing him is pretty fun to. And maybe once the three of us are out we can be friends like we are here? Besides, a love triangle has always spiced things up in stories like this!" Strea snickered, and Philia fumed.

"FYI _I _was the one who stayed with him last night! And I met him first anyway!" Philia snapped, and Strea giggled again.

"What are you two arguing about now?" Noire muttered as he landed lightly and stood up.

"N-n-nothing! Nothing at all!" Philia yelped, her face shooting to red, and Noire raised an eyebrow, looking at Strea.

"Care to explain?" Noire asked.

"Just a little bit of girl talk, not much else." Strea stated with a wave of her hand.

"Ah… stuff I wouldn't get. Alright, well, we're getting close. The castle isn't far… also, you _really _should've taken a look at the view up there. It was awesome!"

"Oh come on, how would we have done that when we're not nearly as acrobatic as you here?" Strea asked in a light tone that just got Philia steaming again for whatever reason.

"W-whatever… it was probably nothing! NOIRE PUT ME DOWN WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Philia shrieked when Noire grabbed her by the waist and started carrying her up the tree.

"What's it look like? There's a canopy we can stand on up there and I want you guys to see what it looks like. And since you're miss stubborn I just settled on carrying you up myself to make it easier." Noire stated, pulling up one more time and vaulting up, Philia shrieking as they launched through the leaves. Noire landed lightly on the canopy, and he turned to see Philia clinging on for dear life. "Hahahaha! Wow, I didn't know that would freak you out so much."

"S-s-s-shut up…" Philia muttered as she shook.

"Come on. Let go and take a look around. Heck, you can even see the castle from here!" Noire chuckled, and Philia finally opened her tightly shut eyes to look around, and then she was at a loss for words.

"Wow… this is actually really cool…" Philia awed as she looked around. The forest spread out as far as the eye could see, and off in the distance the black New Moon Castle rose into the sky, spires dotting the structure, and though they couldn't really see all of it from here, it was already easy to see some details, such as the gargoyles.

"I thought you'd like this view." Noire chuckled as he sat down on the edge. "The best part about being up this high is that the monsters can't reach us, so more power to us."

"It's a safe zone up here? Would anyone know about it?" Philia asked.

"Probably not… I mean, who's going to take the time to climb up to it eh?" Noire muttered.

"Speak for yourself you two…" Strea mumbled as she finally made it up, flopped down with a tired sigh. "Couldn't you have carried me up as well?"

"I could only carry one person up. Besides, you seemed to be doing just fine." Noire snickered, tapping Strea on the forehead, and the lavender haired girl huffed out a cheek, voicing some complaints, Noire just chuckling as he was lightly hit, and Philia got that weird look again as the obviously cute scene played out between the two.

"Well seem I just faded into the background for a moment." Philia mumbled, leaning on her elbow.

**Sometime later/In front of the New Moon Palace**

"And _finally!" _Noire sighed as they finally reached the massive black doors of the gothic style palace. "Alright… now let's see what's inside."

Noire pushed the doors open, and a loud boom sounded as a gust of wind blew out, buffeting the three players as they crashed open.

"Well… that's not foreboding at all." Philia mumbled, drawing her dagger.

"Agreed." Strea nodded, grabbing her own weapon as Noire walked in, the two girls following at a slower, more cautious pace.

"Agh… come on guys… I seriously doubt…" Noire started, but he was cut off when the door slammed shut, the room going black for a moment before the room lit up, being pure white in contrast with the black outside of the castle. "What the…?"

"**NOIRE!"**

When the two shrieks sounded Noire shot around, and both Philia and Strea were now locked in a clear, seemingly glass cage of sorts, the two trying to break it, but to no avail.

"Hold on guys! There has to be a way to get you out! Just…" Noire was cut off again when a booming, echoing voice sounded, and all three stopped as it spoke.

"_Thee who wields the sliver of moonlight and searched out this castle… the trials of the Dark Light Blade shall now begin. Your companions may not participate in these trials, which shall be a test of all your skills… alone. Prove that thou art worthy of the weapon within this castle. Your trials begin _NOW, _with the first trial, The Trial of Strength. Prove that thou has the strength to protect thy companions and fight in this world._"

Once the voice finished, the massive hall was filled with blue light as monsters began to spawn, each one some kind of small, armored drake.

**Lunar Drake Knights**

"Philia… Strea, hold tight, I'll find a way to get through this and get you two out of there. We're past a point where there's no going back." Noire stated as he put a hand on his blade, the normal glow coming from the weapon.

"Noire don't! We need to…" Philia started.

"Philia… please… just… trust me for once and quit being so snippy. I know you don't want me to fight or do this. But right now, I don't have a choice anymore. That was sealed the moment those doors closed behind us." Noire stated.

"But…" Philia started, but she was cut off when Strea put a hand on her shoulder.

"Philia, we have to let him do this. There's no way out of this for all three of us. Right now, we just have to trust Noire and hope for the best." Strea stated.

"Heh… thanks guys. Now, let's see how long it takes for me to beat these things!" Noire yelled as he charged into the swarm, using sword skill after sword skill to attack, turning into a practical swathe of colored light as he flipped about, dodged, sidestepped, and swung, the flash of the sword skills from his blade hiding Noire from view on occasion as he cut down enemy after enemy, but, the swarm was big enough that when he got to the middle of the room, he'd barely gotten rid of more than half.

"There's… no end to these things… and I've exhausted every last sword skill in my list… damn… do I have to bring that out so early? I still don't know what it does… but… it's the only choice I have!" Noire slammed his blade into the sheathe once more, assuming another, odder stance that consisted of keeping his sword held in front of him with his legs locked, and instead of a colored glow, something black and smoky, almost like a shadow, began seeping from the sheathe as the Lunar Drakes closed in.

"**NOIRE!" **The girls shrieked as the enemies pounced, but, instead of seeing Noire burst into polygons, the dome of enemies burst open as blades of shadows began slicing through like crazy, and within it Noire was swinging his sword in his normal style, his blade wreathed in the smoky black shadows as they burst out and cut through every enemy in their direction until all the remaining enemies were gone, and Noire was left panting as the shadows around his blade vanished, and he notably pulled out a healing crystal, though the girls could have sword they hadn't seen him to a single hit.

"_Congratulations swordsman, thou hast passed the Trial of Power… move on to the next room for your next trial." _The booming voice spoke again, and the massive throne moved aside, revealing a large entrance to another room.

"Noire… what… why did you heal yourself?" Strea asked as the cage moved with Noire, going through the corridor with the boy.

"You didn't take any damage did you? We didn't see you get hit." Philia added, and Noire sighed, stopping.

"It's because the skill I used drains my HP to use it continually. It's called Darkness Blade… I saw it in my skill list a few months ago… but… I don't know why I have it, there wasn't a quest or anything. So… I don't know." Noire stated, looking at his sword in his left hand.

"Maybe it's one of those unique skills players mention. Like the one that Heathcliff, leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath has. But… why does it drain your HP?" Philia stated, and Noire shook his head.

"It's just part of what the skill does. I can use it so long as I have enough health, so, it's good my HP parameter is high and I have a decent regen level… but, Darkness Blade negates my regeneration, so I had to use a healing crystal." Noire turned back around and kept walking forward, keeping his gaze steady as they entered the next room, which lit up, revealing a room that was more similar to a forest dungeon than what should be inside a castle.

"Just what is this place?" Noire mumbled as he kept moving, and then the voice spoke again.

"_Now for the second trial: The Trial of Speed. Without this, the goals before you would slip away faster than one would think. Your companions will be at the center of this maze. Make it to the center before the timer runs out, and you shall pass. If you fail however… then the entire room will collapse whilst ablaze, incinerating thee and thou companions. Make hast and be light of foot swordsman."_

Once that was finished, Strea and Philia vanished in blue light, and a timer appeared on the ceiling, which counted up to thrity minutes.

"Just how big is this maze if I only have thirty minutes to get to the center!? I hope to go there aren't any enemies to slow me down!" Noire snapped as he took off at full speed, calling out to Strea and Philia whenever he could.

In the center of the maze, the girls were sitting on thr ground as they waited, glancing up and watching the timer go down.

"It's been five minutes. Noire's pressed for time. Who knows just how big this maze is." Strea murmured, looking at Philia, who'd hidden her face with her hood. "Philia, what's wrong?"

"I'm scared… we could really die… and all because of a stupid test for Noire he just had to take… why? Why did he do it? He could've just left it alone. I hate him. I hate him for being such a reckless idiot who doesn't think. THERE'S SO MANY THINGS ABOUT HIM THAT INFURIATE ME! I DON'T CARE IF HE DIES ANYMORE!" Philia shouted, her voice cracking and tears streaming down her face, and Philia smiled softly.

"No you don't Philia. You said it yourself even if you don't know. It's really easy to see how much you care about Noire… he means everything to you now, doesn't he? I mean, we've been travelling with him for quite a few months now, I don't see how you couldn't get attached. You just need to open up to him the rest of the way. Remember when I said Noire's kinda like an older brother? He is. He told me one day that he has a younger twin sister. I guess he just has that protective instinct. He knows we're in trouble, and I don't doubt he's trying his hardest to get to the center of this maze and find us. We're not members of the assault team, but, I haven't seen anyone with a drive like Noire when it comes to being motivated to help others in trouble."

As Strea spoke, Noire was rushing through turns, hitting dead ends, monster ambushes, and even the occasional trap, but he sped through all of them, a look of determination on his face as he dashed, flipped, and sliced his way forwards, finding the path he needed through this indoor forest maze.

"Just hold on guys… I'm on my way!" Noire yelled as he blazed past some enemies, a red trail of light in his wake from a slash.

"But… _why!? _I get he helped me before, but I attacked him on sight when we met up again!" Philia snapped, standing up and balling her fists at Strea.

"This coming from the girl who poured her heart out to him the other night and refused to let him go." Strea chuckled, "You don't know how Noire feels about seeing someone who'd previously seemed angry and broken smile because their having fun, even if things are like this. When we were all back in the real world, I'd never met anyone who loved to see others smile as much as Noire… and it's weird, because he always mentions how he doesn't like people." Strea chuckled.

"Well duh! It's because he was obviously a shut in!" Philia snapped.

"But… maybe that's why. He told you, right? You and I are his first real friends. I think, to someone who's like Noire that means more than anything to him. And if he can see a friend smile after having gone through a hard time, I think that's enough to help him soldier on in this world." Strea stated with another smile, and Philia growled.

"How… how can you be like that when we're in a situation where we could easily die?" Philia asked, "Do you love him that much?"

"Not as much as you. I do love Noire, but, it's closer to the way a sister loves her brother. But, I also don't want to leave his side. It's weird. But, I want to hold out hope that he can get to us and we can keep going through this adventure! So, I'll gold onto that, because I know he's coming for us. It's why I suggested you join us, because I wanted someone else to come along with us and help Noire as a person. You have been having fun right? I mean, that's what an MMO is, a game. Even if it's a death game, there's still ways you can have fun in it, right?" Strea asked that, and Philia was stunned into silence.

"That's… Noire's line…" Philia muttered.

Back in the maze, Noire was panting, leaning on a tree, and he looked up at the timer.

"Fifteen minutes left… it doesn't feel like I'm any closer to the middle… but… I have to be… this is why I hate life size mazes, there's no way to make a plan of analyze the routes… it's all luck and speed… but… I have to be close… I have to be. PHILIA! STREA! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME THAN ANSWER!" Noire put his hands near his mouth when he yelled.

In the center, Philia and Strea looked off down the path when they heard Norie's voice, and both their faces lit up.

"NOIRE! WE'RE DOWN THIS WAY!" Both yelled to make the sound louder, and Noire turned to the direction of the echo.

"That way… got it! KEEP YELLING YOU TWO! IT'LL HELP ME PINPOINY WHERE TO GO!" Noire yelled, getting an affirmative, and this process kept up for a while, Noire rounding corners again and again as he followed the sound of the girls' voices, stealing glances up at the timer, and when he got to where the sound was nearing its loudest, he growled when he saw he only three and a half minutes left.

"Just a bit further… I'm almost there…" Noire growled as he did his best to speed up, the path straightening out and widening. "I've got to be close now! No interruptions!"

Just as the timer hit the two and a half minutes mark, Noire rounded the last large turn and burst down it, leaping when he saw the shapes of Philia and Strea, avoiding a pit fall and rolling when he hit the ground again, blazing down the last stretch just in time, two minutes left on the clock as he tumbled to a stop, rolling a bit and hitting a tree.

"Ow… man… really need to work on the landing." Noire muttered as he stood up, only to get plowed over by both his companions a moment later, both girls sobbing wrecks. "WHOA! Hey, calm down guys… it's alright. I made it… yeesh, you too Strea? Aren't you normally miss tough pep talker? The one who's calm no matter what?"

"JUST SHUT UP!" Both girls yelled in unison, and Noire put a hand on both their heads, a gentle look on his face.

"_Well done swordsman. Thou hast passed the second of the trials. Now, move on to the third and final trial: The Trial of Will. Without the will to stand against those things that are terrifying, there can be no hope for survival. Enter, and face the final challenge awaiting thee, and prove thyself worthy of the weapon beyond."_

"Weapon?" Noire murmured as he stood up as the path opened. "Come on guys. We have one last trial. Then, we'll get out of here. I promise, we'll make it through this last one. I'm not letting either of you die, not when I'm around." The boy extended his hands, and both girls took one, hanging on tightly as they proceeded down the dark hallway, which twisted downwards for a long time until entering one final, dark chamber, and there was what sounded like a large, sleeping creature in the room.

"Strea… Philia… stay back… I have to take this one… this is my test…" Noire stated, letting go and stepping into the room further, and a sudden red gleam from a large eye made him stop dead as the room lit and he was faced with a gleaming white dragon the same size as Emeraude, and it caused Norie to freeze, the image of that emerald green dragon gazing down at him with flames in it's mouth, ready to roast him alive, came back to his mind as the giant white dragon roared.

**Lux Aeturnus, the Dragon of the Moon**

"No… I can't be afraid now… I need to persevere past this beast… the people I need to protect are here… and I'll make sure we all get out alive… I won't hesitate… and I'LL FIGHT!" Noire shouted, assuming the stance for Darkness Blade, drawing his sword as the shadows began to seep from the sheathe again, and he started keeping an eye on his health as the symbol for Darkness Blade being active appeared.

'_Every strike from here will be more powerful at the cost of my HP… I need to make sure I make it out alive and finish this fight as quickly as possible… no holding back!'_

As the dragon roared again, Noire charged with a roar of his own, leaping into the air and bringing his blade down, slicing the dragon's maw, a trail of shadows following his blade as he landed and lashed out with a vicious combo, avoiding the dragon's claws and using his much smaller side to his advantage.

Lux Aeternus had a trick up it's sleeve though, and when Noire came out from underneath it, it flashed it's scales on the light from above, blinding the swordsman and then slamming him with the tip of it's tail, sending Noire flying and then slamming through one of the pillars in the hall.

"GAGH!" Noire gagged as he hit and fell to the ground, his health dropping dangerously low since that damage connected with having used such a long combo with Darkness Blade caused it to stack. "Damn…" Noire pulled out a healing crystal and used it, the green gem shattering, and when Lux Aeturnus thrust a paw forward, crashing it into the wall, it made Philia and Strea fear the worst, but, shooting out from the dust, Noire shot up the dragon's leg.

"I'm not going to be so easy to hit again!" Noire shouted as he leapt off the dragon's shoulder and into the air as the beast swiped at him, landing on the talon and launching himself further into the air until he could flip and land on the ceiling, looking down at the dragon below as he readied his shadow wreathed blade within the split second he had to launch himself back down, a practical plume of shadows following his sword as he descended, his hand hovering just by the blade, and when Lux Aeturnus snapped at him, he raked his blade down it's back after rolling to avoid it's maw, dragging the shadow covered blade along as he followed the beasts length until rolling off its tail, though some spikes nicked him as he launched, landing by the door as the shadows dispersed when he sheathed his blade.

"NOIRE! It's not dead!" Philia and Strea shouted.

Noire calmly turned around as Lux Aeturnus rose up, and he assumed the stance for Vorpal Striker.

"Five… four…" Noire started counting, and the dragon reared it's head back, moonlight white flames appearing in it's jaws.

"Three… two…" Strea kept it going, the dragon rearing back further.

"One." Philia breathed out, and in that final split second before the dragon could release it's gout of flames, Noire struck out with that final attack at full force, the silver light beams cutting through the dragons thick scales and forcing the beast back into the wall, one final roar coming from the dragon as it exploded into polygons, and Noire fell to his knees as the battle ended.

"I did it… I beat a dragon while staring death in the face…" Noire muttered, nothing how dangerously low his health was. "Damn… needed to keep a watch."

"NOIRE!" Philia yelled as she ran over and nearly tackled the boy to the ground, holding on tightly while sobbing again. "You stupid, stupid idiot! Don't… ever… do… anything like that again! Quit scaring me all the time… I hate it… you do too many things I hate!"

"Is that why you're so snippy and cold?" Noire asked, a small smile spreading on his face.

"I told you… I… I don't want to lose anyone else I care about… I stayed like that because I was scared… what if… what if I'd gotten close to you and then you died… I couldn't take going through that again… if I had to… I'd kill myself… it's why I took to playing solo like you…" Philia stated, shoving her face into the back of Noire's cloak as she continued to sob, and Strea was watching a smile on her face again.

"Hey, I said I'd make it out alive didn't I? And look at me… sure, I'm barely still there, but, I'm not dead. Isn't that enough?" Noire chuckled, and Philia just held on tighter.

"Don't do anything that stupid again… if you do… I'll… I'll… just… just don't do something like that again!" Philai shouted, keeping herself from hitting Noire because she didn't want to accidently take down the last little bit of HP he had.

"Hahaha! I can't really promise that considering our business… but, I'll do my best to be more careful from now on." Noire stated, and he looked up when the voice boomed again.

"_You have succeded in passing the final trial swordsman. Come and claim your reward: The black blade of moonlight: Noire Lumiere. This blade is now yours."_

'_Noire… Lumiere… no way that's a coincidence.' _Noire thought as, from the end of the hall, a pedestal rose, and he could faintly make out a black shape on it.

"Philia… just…" Noire started.

"Not until you're healed. I swear… you really are an idiot you know that? Rushing headlong to fight a dragon… stupid… idiot… shouldn't even be playing this game." Philia muttered as she fished around for a healing crystal, her face seemingly more annoyed than anything now.

"And now we're back to getting griped at. Yeesh, any more of this and people'll start saying we act like an old married couple." Noire snickered.

"You are lucky I can't hit you right now." Philia mumbled, pulling out the crystal and using it, and Noire watched his health shoot back up.

"Thanks Philia. Maybe now you can say you actually managed to save my hide." Noire chuckled as he stood up, and Philia just looked to the side as he marched up to the pedestal.

After a moment, Noire let out an oddly nervous chuckle.

"Hmm? Noire, what's wrong?" Strea asked as she and Philia walked up next to him, looking down at the black katana on the pedestal. Everything about the sword, from its blade to the hilt and guard was black as midnight, a small chain on the end of the hilt, and the guard was shaped like a crescent moon. "So, that's the sword Noire Lumiere… is there some kind of problem though?"

"Uh… yeah… my STR parameter isn't high enough to use it." Noire muttered in a sheepish manner, his two companions gleaning what can only be described as "WHAT THE FUCK!?" faces.

"You are kidding me… ALL OF THAT FOR A WEAPON YOU CAN'T EVEN USE YET!?" Philia shouted, and Noire panicked when she started pounding on him, and Strea just giggled at the display.

"My, those two sure are cute sometimes."

**A/N**

**Holy craaaap that was intense and looooong… time to relieve that with some good ol' fashioned comedy thrown in to lighten the mood a bit… sidequest/shenanigans time!**


	8. Time Off

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 08: Time off **

_**Floor 50: Algade**_

_**January 7**__**th**__**, 2024**_

Noire was making his way through the busy alleyways of Algade, heading for a certain shop.

In the time since the New Moon Palace, Noire had gotten some new gear as well. In place of his old gray jacket, over his usual shirt he now had on a white dragon leather swordsman's jacket with a similar design to his old one with white fur lining on the collar, torso, and wrists, with some black eastern style armor on his shoulders and wrists, his fingerless gloves still in place, and now his black slacks had different armor on the knees, and he had black and white edged steeled toed and heeled boots on his feet, and Noire Lumiere sat on his waist, the chain on its hilt making small clinks as he moved, though not like anyone would notice that since Noire still had his cloak on over everything else.

Once Noire got to the shop he was looking for, he pushed the door open with his foot and shifted his cloak back over his shoulders, calling out since the clerk wasn't at the counter.

"Hey! Agil! I'm here with another item to sell! You here!?" Noire yelled off in the direction of the flap as he leaned on the counter, falling into his usual habit of tracing a circle as he waited until the larger Agil came out, one of the few SAO players who wasn't of Japanese ethnicity, instead being African American, at least from view, though the man spoke perfect Japanese.

"Ah, hey there Noire! Wait a minute, where Philia and Strea? Don't those two usually stick to you like glue?" Agil chuckled as he too leaned on the counter.

"Funny, Agil, funny. Here, found this during our last dungeon dive. Not sure what its worth, and I have no intention of keeping it in my apartment." Noire stated as he brought out the item in question, a stupidly ornate shield that was honestly _not _to Noire's liking.

"I can see why. This thing isn't like you at all. Y'sure you wanna sell this to me though? It does seem like it'd make a good wall ornament if you're not gonna use it." Agil stated as he brought up the appraisal menu.

"Let some player who uses shields buy the thing off ya'. Besides, I got my sword and that's all I need." Noire muttered.

"Yeah, and you've got a new nickname 'cause of it and that Unique Skill of yours. You really should've skimped out on that last boss fight you were at if you wanted to keep it a secret. Where'd you get that sword anyway?" Agil chuckled, and Noire lifted an eyebrow.

"Another one? I was fine with "Maverick Gamer" but now I've got a new one. This _has _to be worth hearing." Noire sighed.

"Heh, I've heard a few people calling you Noire the Shadow now. Honestly, not as good as Maverick Gamer, but it fits." Agil stated. "Damn man, this is worth a lot. Seems more like something that would just be an ornament instead of being used for defense."

"I thought the same thing. How much can I get?" Noire asked.

"Quite a bit actually. But don't you have more than enough money than you need?" Agil asked.

"Philia insists on finding a place to stay at on floor 55, and she's being adamant about everything and wants Strea and I to pitch in." Noire stated, leaning on his elbows.

"Man, you need to take some time off an relax. I get you three kids make a business out of this kind of thing, making maps and selling rare treasures, but there are times you should rest and relax, y'know?" Agil stated, and Noire rolled his eyes. "Actually, I have the perfect thing to help you with that!"

Noire raised an eyebrow and peered a bit further over the counter when Agil started fishing around for something, and the older man chuckled when he apparently found what he was looking for, coming up with a vial of clear liquid.

"What the heck is this?" Noire asked as he picked the vial up, turning it a bit and looking at it carefully.

"Let's just say it's a rare little item Kirito brought in. You know how the guy is." Agil stated.

"Yeah, he only keeps what he needs. I've run into him a few times here and we did some catching up since we haven't run into each since about… I think it was floor 30?" Noire mumbled, "But, anyway, what is it?"

"Well, Kirito said it's some kind of bathtup relaxation liquid. Supposed to help you cool off a bit. So, just pour that stuff in next time you take a bath and see for yourself. Might do you some good." Agil stated.

"How much?" Noire asked.

"See, you're the kind of customer I like! If you see something you want and you can get, no complex talk is needed!" Agil chuckled.

"Just tell me the price." Noire sighed.

"How about that for the shield, and I'll give you half of the shield's Col value to go with it." Agil suggested.

"Sounds fine by me." Noire nodded, and he turned his head back when he picked something up.

'_Weird, felt like someone was there just now.' _Noire thought, shrugging it off. Since Algade was a bustling city someone probably just stopped by the door or something. It did happen often.

**Later that night/Noire's apartment**

Noire was busy setting up a bath, leaning on the wall as the water filled the tub, his cloak, sword, and armor off, and he was boredly spinning the vial of liquid in his hands as he waited, and once the tub was filled, popped the top and placed contents in, though a knock on his door drew the teen away.

"Who could be here now?" Noire mumbled, opening the door, not feeling surprised at all to see Philia.

Like Noire, Philia had also gotten new gear, being a new blue coat with white edging, the same length as the one she'd worn before over an armored blue tube top of sorts, Noire couldn't really tell, small black shorts, black leggings and brown boots, as well as a blue side skirt of sorts on her left hip, her new dagger, Sword Breaker, on her right, and her right arms had a silver gauntlet and arm band while the left was covered by a dark blue sleeves, and her hands covered by brown fingerless gloves.

"Philia? When did you and Strea get back… and speaking of Strea where is she?" Noire asled, peeking his head out.

"Well hello to you too." Philia sighed, "I went ahead a bit, and when I went by Agil's shop I heard something about a certain little thing for a bath, do you perhaps have any left over? I need some time to relax, and I haven't really taken a bath in a while… soo…"

"So that's why I felt like someone was listening. Uh… Sorry Philia, but I had to use it all up on the bath I was getting ready before you got here. Otherwise I would. Sorry." Noire muttered, putting a hand behind his head.

"Darn it… sorry… I was curious about that stuff to." Philia mumbled pouting a bit, and Noire hung his head.

"If you want, you could just use the bath here. It's already set up so not like you'll need to do anything. I can honestly wait to take a bath." Noire suggested. "Honestly it wouldn't bother me that much so just go ahead.

"EH!? Uh… well… Thank you Noire!" Philia said happily, and it was just something with her smile that made it impossible for Noire to bring himself to say no.

Not long later, Philia was in the bathroom, and her melodic, high pitched humming was becoming torture to Noire, who was sitting on the couch, tried to keep his cool, though his face was progressively getting redder.

'_Stay calm Noire. Okay, so, you've got a pretty girl taking a bath with barely a wall and a door between you… in your own apartment… alone… just the two of us… don't think about it… don't think about it…. don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it!' _Noire thought as his fingers started tapping and his eyes started twitching as he did his best to fight his inner guy back and stop any thoughts that would get him smacked for having from rising up.

"Ahh… this feels so nice…" he heard Philia sigh in content from the other side of the door.

"GYAGH!" Noire yelled, shoving his face into a nearby pillow and letting out a muffled scream. "Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it!"

"Oh, Noire, could you get the door please?" Philia asked, and Noire sat up with a sigh.

"Sure! Though I don't see why I should get it." Noire mumbled the last bit under his breath as he stood up and went to open the door, and he was greeted by Philia walking out wearing only a towel with her cheeks rosy, and Noire just stood there stunned, his eye twitching.

"Ah, I feel much better now! Thanks again Noire!" Philia said in a happy tone, and Noire shook his head to snap out of his shock, but his face was red as a rose.

"Ph-Philia… w-why are you only w-wearing a t-towel?" Noire stuttered.

"Hmm? Well, I did just get out of the bath silly." Philia replied with that same tone.

"I KNOW THAT! But I mean… couldn't you have gotten dressed _in _the bathroom?" Noire asked.

"It was steamy in there. But I feel good right now." Philia mumbled.

"You're acting weird too…" Noire mumbled, shuffling a bit and avoiding looking at Philia, his face completely red and just getting redder by the moment as his eyes kept darting back and forth, and Philia giggled.

"Noire… you're so cute when you're embarrassed like that!" Philia giggled, and Noire yelped when she grabbed him and went and shoved his face between her cleavage, Noire appropriately freaking out.

"Ph-Philia!? WHAT THE HELL!?" Noire snapped as he tried to get free, but Philia was keeping a tight hold.

"Hmm? Strea does this to you a lot, so why can't I?" Philia muttered.

"SHE TEASES ME LIKE THAT AND IT'S STOPPED! THIS IS JUST EMBARRASING! Why are you acting like this!?" Noire yelled in a muffled tone, and Philia openly gave a giggling sigh.

"Noire… things are just nice dontcha think? We're getting time alone again after a while… it's nice don't you think?" Philia breathed out, and Noire grumbled a bit.

'_Okay, something is up, she never acts like this.' _Noire thought.

"Uh… I… guess." Noire mumbled.

'_WHAT AM I SAYING!?' _Noire shouted in his head.

"Ehehehehe…." Philia giggled, releasing Noire.

"Philia, are you feeling arlight?" Noire asked, crossing his arms.

"Well… I am feeling kind of light headed…" Philia mumbled.

Noire sighed and brought out his menu, going until he found the cial of what he used since the info was still there.

'_What the hell did Agil give me? Yeesh, what the heck is going on? Maybe if I get a better look I can tell.' _Noire thought, putting a hand on his chin.

"Well, if you're feeling light headed then want to sit down in the bath again? That might help." Noire suggested, and Philia nodded.

"Yeah! Thanks!"

Philia went back into the bathroom and stepped back into the bath, and Noire leaned against the wall just outside the door, his eyes closed as he listened.

"Ah… this feels so nice…" Philia sighed contently.

'_Okay, I need to find out why she's acting like this? Does it have something to do with what I put in? If so then I know somebody who's gonna get smacked tomorrow!' _Noire thought.

"Is something wrong? Hey, Noire, do you want to join me?" Philia suggested, and Noire downright spat, his face going red again.

"Uh… no… sorry… that… that would be weird…" Noire muttered.

'_Okay, really? Let's see, flushed face, lazy speech pattern, acting differently than they normally would… is it just me or does it sound like whatever the hell was in that vial made Philia drunk somehow?' _Noire thought, then hanging his head.

"Shit… if so than that is not good…" Noire mumbled, and he heard Philia let out a sleepy sigh. "Crud… man, I can't really let her go back to the hotel like that… ugh… I cannot believe I'm doing this… Philia! If you want… or rather, it might be good if you just stay here for tonight until you feel better at least. Sound good?"

"Sure! But, you'll be fine with that Noire?" Philia responded.

"I'll just take the couch, it'll be fine."

"Noire, are you sure? You sound… I dunno…"

"Yes, Philia, I'll be fine. You can take the bed." Noire stated, and, after a slosh of water, Philia walked back out, and the boy diverted his eyes.

"Well… good night Noire!" Philia giggled, pecking the boy on the cheek before laying down and going to sleep quickly, and Noire just sat stunned for a minute as his face pulsed to red and back to normal as he blinked rapidly.

"Well… um…" Noire muttered.

**The next morning**

Philia sat up with a yawn, stretching her arms and looking around.

"Huh? Where am I?" Philia murmured, looking over at the sofa as Noire started to wake up, the boy still wearing his normal outfit.

"Hwaaaagh! Hmm? Oh… you're awake. Feeling better?" Noire muttered, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and Philia looked at Noire before looking down at herself, her face going red.

"W-why am I dressed like this!? What the heck happened? N-Noire… wh-why are you here!?" Philia snapped, pulling the covers up to cover herself.

"H-hold on! C-can you let me explain!?" Noire yelped before a pillow hit his face, making him flop back.

"Y-you didn't do anything to me did you Noire?! I can't remember last night… s-so… y-you didn't take advantage of me or anything, did you!?" Philai snapped.

"I swear, I didn't do anything… just… listen…"

Noire went and explained what had occurred the night before (leaving out a few of the more embarrassing details), and Philia went from a red face to a thoughtful one.

"What was that stuff you put in anyway? And, for the record, that was all technically your fault." Philia mumbled.

"You're the one who wanted to take the bath! And, to be honest I don't know why you acted like that! There's enough left over that I could have Agil check it out. I swear, the next time he gives me something Kirito sold him he better tell me exactly what it does beforehand." Noire muttered, "Now, c-could you please get dressed? It's… a little uncomfortable for me right now."

"Oh… um… just… hold on…" Philia mumbled, opening her menu and equipping her gear, getting off the bed. "Um… I'm sorry if I did anything weird to you the other night…"

"Uh… it's fine… but… let's head over to Agil's and see if he can tell us what the heck this stuff is… maybe it'll shed some light on why you started acting weird." Noire stated as he equipped the rest of his gear, and Philia nodded, taking the lead out the door.

**Agil's Shop**

Agil looked towards the door as the bell went off, and he grinned when he saw Noire enter with Philia behind him.

Hey there you two! So, Noire, did that potion I gave you help out?" Agil asked, and Noire placed the vial on the counter.

"Well, I wasn't the one who took a bath with this stuff added in, Philia did, and she started acting… strange…" Noie stated.

"Just what is it anyway!? I can't remember anything about what happened after I got into the bath!" Philia grumbled, "Agil, just what is that item!?"

"I don't know much about the item myself, but I can take a look to see it's effects." Agil stated as he brought up the appraisal menu.

"Should've done that sooner." Noire and Philia muttered.

"What the? This stuff has some kind of magic effect that adds a status to a player… a status that causes them to act as if… well… how do I out this… kinda as if they'd had one too many at the tavern." Agil stated.

"What… you mean like it made me act like I was drunk!?" Philia gasped.

'_So, even in SAO that effect can happen… weird that my theory proved correct weirdly enough.' _Noire thought with a sigh.

"Well, that explains that. Uh… sorry this happened Philia… really…" Noire muttered.

"Hmm hmm hmm… it's alright Noire! No harm done right?" Philai giggled, and Noire raised an eyebrow.

"I was expecting you to snap at me and spout off some more stuff about how much of an idiot I am… weird." Noire muttered, and Philia giggled again, tapping Noire on the shoulder with a fist.

"You are an idiot sometimes. But your my idiot, and that's fine by me." Philia giggled, and Noire grumbled as his face flushed, and Agil laughed.

"Come on you two, just say it already! It'll get old waiting eventually y'know?" Agil laughed.

"Huh?" Noire muttered as he lifted an eyebrow.

"Nothing! He doesn't mean anything! Come on, let's go and find Strea. She said she'll be at the fountain square, so let's not keep her waiting!" Philia snapped, pushing Noire out the door while the teen objected, and the girl shot a glare at Agil who just chuckled and waved as the two treasure hunters left.

"Good luck you guys! And don't get killed! I'd lose a business link if you did!" Agil called out.

"SHOVE OFF AGIL!" Noire yelled, getting a laugh from the older man.

**A/N**

**Wow, I honestly wasn't expecting to get to my word limit with this scene. Ah well, I did and that's all that matters. Now, one more sidequest and then back to the action!**


	9. May I have this dance?

My Sword, My Wings, My guns

**Chapter 9: May I have this dance?**

_**April 30**__**th**__**, 2024**_

_**Floor 55: West Mountain Range**_

Noire and Strea were trekking back down the mountain path, the later with a heavy cloak on over her equipment, which had barely changed since she first introduced herself to Noire, staying all but the same, though some light armor had been added on.

"Strea, remind me never to recommend that quest to anyone again. We barely got anything from that dragon and it's not even gonna get enough Col for a reimbursement." Noire grumbled, and Strea chuckled nervously.

"Sorry. I thought we'd be able to find that metal ore that was there, but I guess not… wait… where's Philia?" Strea asked, and noire sighed.

"She probably found something and ran off to find it again. Typical of her." Noire shrugged and he gestured for Strea to keep moving.

"So…" Strea started, matching pace with Noire, "You and Philia have certainly started being friendlier with each other since January, care to tell?"

"There's nothing to tell Strea.We just decided to quit with fighting like we did all the time." Noire stated, lifting up his hood to hide a flushing face, and Strea giggled.

"Noire, I followed you for several months and have been a companion of yours for more than a year now, I think I can tell when my friends are getting closer to each other, even if you don't see it." Strea stated, and Noire turned his head away.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Strea. Oh, hey, look, Snow Wolves!" Noire dashed off when he spotted the monsters, and Strea shook her head with a sigh.

"They'll fess up to it eventually. They just need a nudge in the right direction. Hold up Noire! Don't take all the kills because that won't be fair!" Strea yelled as she drew her claymore and charged in.

"Well then you should be a bit faster than that!" Norie snapped.

_**Later/Western Hamlet**_

Noire and Strea walked through the small arch leading to the teleport gate, and who else happened to be waiting for them other than Philia?

"Well, took you two long enough. I got back here pretty quick." Philia snickered, and Noire rolled his eyes.

"Funny Philia, funny. Just what the heck did you spot this time, what with that maxed out searching skill of yours?" Noire asked.

"Just something that should net us a decent sum of Col. Not gonna show it though." Philia snickered.

"Well, that's good to know! The dragon didn't really have drops that could make up for what we spent to prepare, so, it'll be needed. Nice find Philia!" Strea gave a thumbs up, and the two girls slapped a high five, Noire chuckling and rolling his eyes again.

"Nice to see any tension that used to be here is gone now." Noire chuckled.

_**May 3**__**rd**__**, 2024/Evening**_

_**Floor 50: Algade**_

"Ugh, where is he now? I swear, we leave Noire alone for five minutes and he just fades in with the crowd!" Philia complained as she walked around the square, looking for the green/blue eyed swordsman. "NOIRE!?"

After a bit more searching and some yelling, Philia found Noire napping on a bench, sleeping completely soundly like there wasn't a bustling crowd around him. Philia stood for a moment, debating whether or not to wake him up, but he soon got up on his own.

Noire made a small yawn as he sat up, opening his eyes, which were somewhat drropy, and he looked around.

"Philia? When did you and Strea get back?" Noire mumbled as he stretched.

"You're the one who vanished Noire. Sheesh, I've been looking for you anyway." Philia stated.

"What for?" Noire mumbled, and Philia sat down.

"Well… there was a quest up on floor 61 in Selmburg I found out about… And well, the item I'm looking for is inside a ballroom but… I can't seem to get in." Philia mumbled, looking to the side as her face flushed/

"Hold up, there's a place you couldn't get into? Haven't ever heard of _that _happening!" Noire chuckled in a teasing tone.

"Shut up… But… I wanted to know if you could help me." Philia stated, turning to Noire, who put a hand on his chin.

"Well, considering the fact it's a ballroom, maybe to get in you need someone of the opposite gender with you. You know, a boy and girl thing. Typical ballroom's must have some kind of dance going on. So, simply put, we go in, get whatever you're looking for, and get out. Easy as that." Noire stated.

"T-together? To a ballroom… l-like a… a… a _date!?" _PHilia mumbled.

"Uhm… when did I say that?" Noire asked, tilting his head.

"S-sorry! It's just… th-that was the idea that came up… but, I know well enough, it's just a ques, that's it!" Philia sighed to regain her composure, "Alright… so… should we head there tonight?"

"I say we go right now. It'll save some time. And besides, we've gotta look for the thing right?" Noire stretched again as he stood up, "Though I think we'll have to leave our weapons off when we get there."

"Right… sounds like a plan…" Philia mumbled.

'_That was close…' _Philia thought with a sigh.

**Floor 61: Selmburg**

Noire and Philia were approaching the building Philia had specified, and Noire was looking around.

"Y'know, I never really took the time to look around this place. Gotta say it's a nice city. Though I wonder how much a place here would cost…" Noire muttered, a hand near his chin.

"Well, I heard it could be around 4,000,000 Col or so… I think I at least have more than twice that much stored up…" Philia murmured.

"You're kidding me? I _barely _have that much in my savings." Noire muttered.

"What? But haven't you been saving ever since you got your place in Algade?" Philia asked, and Noire shrugged.

"What? I had to spend quite a bit to make the place look nicer than it does now." Noire shrugged again, and Philis sighed.

"This is why I say you should move up here with me and Strea. It'd save you the hassel of living in that _rathole _of a neighborhood and make finding each other easier." Philia stated.

"Oh, I forgot you two were rooming with each other for now." Noire mused as they approached the door, and the NPC let them in immediately despite their more… combat oriented attire. "Wow… see, this is why I never went to this stuff IRL… way to nice looking for my tastes."

While Noire was scanning the crowd of finely dressed, dancing couples, Philia was trying to avoid getting awkward.

"Well… we're here… let's just find what we're looking for and get out of here!" Philia was quick to slink off down the nearest hallway, and Noire lifted an eyebrow.

"What's up with her?" Noire mumbled before he followed.

While the two made their way through the hallway, Noire was busy admiring the finery while Philia was scanning high and low, and she pulled back a bit when she caught sight of something tipping off to another passage, and she grabbed Noire's hood to keep him from going too far.

"Gack! What the hell Philia!?" Noire snapped.

"This way." Philia stated, letting go and pulling one of the torches on the wall down, letting out a satisfied chuckle when the wall moved, and Noire stood somewhat stunned.

"How did you…" Noire started.

"Perks of having a few skills geared towards treasure hunting. Let's go!" Philia snickred as she started walking down, the hall, and Noire chuckled, shaking his head.

"How do I wind up meeting people like her?" Noire chuckled, following Philia until they entered a lavish room with couches near a window, a wardrobe near the entrance, and just across from the two, sitting in a case of a dark violet pillow was a _huge _gleaming opal shining like a rainbow.

"Whoa… _that _must be worth a lot." Noire whistled, and Philia chuckled.

"And once again I make an excellent find! Aren't you lucky to have me on your side?" Philia snickered in a slightly teasing tone, and Nire rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you're amazing. I get the point. Now, come on, you've got a gem to collect dontcha?" Noire snickered, and Philia slowly made her way towards the case, wary of a possible trap, and slowly, she used her dagger, Sword Breaker, to gently tip the edge of the case up to be sure nothing would happen, and with a slight sigh, she pulled it the rest of the way up, gently putting an arm around the opal and Noire moved over to help, holding the case open as Philia rolled the opal out, stepping back.

"Whew, well, let's…" Philia started as the opal vanished into her inventory, and when a faint buzz that grew slowly louder sounded, Noire flinched.

"Dammit, there was some kind of alarm! Come on! We need to hide!" Noire snapped.

"H-hold on…!" Philia yelped as Noire grabbed her hand and pulled her into the wardrobe, Noire leaving a crack open so he could watch, and Philia's face was scarlet from just how close they were in there. The two remained that way until the alarm died down, and Noire sighed.

"Okay, I think we're clear. But… just to be safe we should find a way to sneak out of here… and windows are not an option." Noire muttered, and he noticed there was some outfits in the closet, and he snapped his fingers. "I have an idea!"

Noire started fishing through the hung outfits, settling on a standard black tuxedo for him, and an admittedly kinda gaudy lowcut blue dress with a brown collar and ligther blue arm scarf.

"Here, put this on and I'll change into the tuxedo outside. We can most likely sneak out while wearing these." Noire stated, handing the dress to Philia.

"A… alright." Philai nodded, and Noire stepped out, quickly swapping out his gear for the tuxedo.

"Gugh, I do _not _do clothes like this." Noire muttered as he looked at his near transparent reflection in the window, and his eyes widened when he saw Philia step out of the wardrobe, still putting her hair up in the back, and Noire shot around his face practically popping to the color red as his jaw dropped.

"So uh… h-how do I look?" Philia asked with an embarrassed look and Noire blinked to make sure he was seeing this.

"I… wow, I'm actually at a loss for words for once." Noire mused.

"What do you mean by that!?" Philia asked with a bit of concern in her voice.

"Well… I mean… it's just… uh… what's the right word… eheh… well, I guess it's just easy to say you look beautiful like that!" Noire chuckled, putting a hand behind his head, and Philia's blushed deepened.

"Thank you… you… you look handsome like that to be honest." Philia mumbled, and now both of them were feeling awkward as their faces readened.

'_I cannot let Strea find out about this.' _The two thought.

"Well… should we get going then?" Noire asked as he stepped over to the rooms exit, Philia simply nodding and following along, and when they got to the ballroom again Noire sighed.

"The crowd just got bigger… now there's no way to sneak along." Noire sighed, looking over at Philia. "Well, since I don't see any other way to get through this crowd…" he added, holding out a hand, and Philia looked surprised. "May I have this dance?"

Philia blinked when Noire smiled at her as he asked, and with a nod, she put her hand on his.

"Yes, you may." Philia stated as they moved into the crowd and started following the movements of the others, steadily getting closer to the exit, but otherwise also trying to enjoy themselves.

"Hey, after this I think you'll be able to keep that dress. I've got enough Col to replace these so it shouldn't. Besides, it makes you look really nice anyway." Noire snickered.

"W-what are you thinking? It better not be anything dirty!" Philia muttered.

"Don't worry I'm not. Just teasing. But, I was serious about the first part." Noire chuckled.

"Thanks Noire… but seriously if you're thinking anything dirty then…" Philia snickered playfully.

"S-shut up! I'm not… ggh… I'm not gonna keep this up, because soon I'll say something that'll get me smacked." Noire muttered, his face reddening, and Philia giggled.

"Hey… Noire… I know it's kinda weird to ask… but… do you think I look… sexy?' Philia asked, and Noire's face reddened even more

"W-where the heck d-did that come from?" Noire stuttered.

"I… I'm just curious." Philia mumbled, her face red as well, and Noire sighed.

"Uh… y-yes… I do…" Noire mumbled.

"R-reeally?" Philai gasped.

"I said yes. Don't hit me." Noire mumbled, looking away in embarrassment.

"S-so… y-you really think so? Uh…." Philia mumbled.

"I… I meant that as a compliment! Ugh… why do things always get so awkward?" Noire mumbled.

"N-no… it's fine… and… thanks… and… could we dance a bit longer, before we have to head back?" Philia asked, and Noire chuckled.

"Alright. A bit longer." Noire nodded, "Besides, why kill the fun right?"

"Yep!" Philia nodded.

'_Moments like these… the fun ones and all our adventures are amazing… I wonder… Noire, do you love me back?' _Philai thought as she and Noire kept talking, both laughing and smiling the whole while as they danced across the floor.

**A/N**

**Okay, I will admit, I was **_**laughing **_**during the process of writing this since I actually managed to **_**translate **_**some of the dialogue (took a while), and just… god I was laughing! Well, next up, time for an action based chapter! Only one thing to say about it:**

**Noire VS. PoH!**


	10. Maverick vs Murderer

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 10: Maverick vs. Murderer**

**September 20****th****, Floor 66/Old Castle Labyrinth**

"Why did we come back to tis labyrinth when the assault team's been through here anyway?" Strea asked as their usual party trekked through the floors castle labyrinth.

"It's a castle, there's _always _going to be things the assault players miss. I saw things like this all the time in the MMO's I would play before this." Norie stated, looking back a bit, and of course he was pretty much hidden by his black cloak somewhat.

"So what you're saying is that you want to see if we find anything here?" Philia asked, and Noire nodded.

"Yep. I heard a bunch of players started entering the New Moon Palace once we revealed its location in attempts to find more treasure, but the only thing any of them found wasn't much, if anything it was paltry. The only thing of any worth there was my Noire Lumiere." Noire stated, peeking around a corner. "Man, it kinda sucks that this place is mostly cleared out. There's not a lot of monsters left."

"Well what did you expect when we came to a castle the assault team had to go through?" Philia sighed.

"Hey! It's always worth backtracking because sometimes you miss things!" Noire stated before walking ahead again.

"Where does he get _that _logic from?" Philia asked, getting a shrug from Strea.

"I was a shut in! Remember?" Noire called back, "Now, are you two coming along with me or not?"

"Oh just hold your horses we're coming!" Philia mumbled.

"Hehehe… we're coming!" Strea chuckled, and the three kept moving deeper through the castle, and the two girls were getting a bit of a kick out of seeing Noire scour around for anything that may lead to a hidden passage or not, the boy tugging on torches, books whenever they came across a book shelf, looking for some sign of a hidden door, etcetera.

"GAGH! Come on, we've been searching for a few hours! Ow have we _not _found something to work off of!?" Noire complained as the three made their way down past the dungeon.

"What did I say earlier?" Philia sighed.

"No, we are gonna find something and I do not care how long we have to search!" Noire snapped, "Besides, after that raid on Laughing Coffin in August I kinda need a way to cool off…"

"But you didn't really do much, only capture some. Not a single one of them fell by your blade." Strea stated, and Noire sighed.

"Yeah, and it was nearly a month ago. You've never taken this long to bounce back from something." Philia stated, and Noire sighed again.

"I know all that but… well… that was just something tricky to deal with." Noire sighed, and Philia seemed concerned about something, and weirdly enough, her eyes darted to a figure who was a short ways off.

"But, I can bet there's something here! We aren't treasure hunters without good reason!" Noire declared, throwing a hand up, and Philia sighed again while Strea giggled.

"He is such a dork." Philia sighed with an amused grin.

"Yeah but he's our dork." Strea giggled and the three once again continued deeper down, and Noire snickered when he managed to start mapping some new areas.

"Sweetness, a part the assault team never bothered exploring. This'll be a good find." Noire snickered.

"Though the assault team is past floor 70." Strea stated.

"Killjoy." Noire muttered, getting a couple of laughs from his companions.

Once the group made it deep enough, taking care of any monster that crossed their path, which were easily dealt with since by this point all three were close to the ninety ranges, they eventually entered an open room, though due to being cautious they stuck close to a wall.

"Hmm, for some reason I'm reminded of Lux Aeterna's chamber. Y'know, part of me wonders if it was that dragon who was really the quest giver at times." Noire mused.

"Yeah… curious." Philia mumbled, her eyes darting around.

"Hey, Philia, are you okay?" Stre asked, concern in her eyes.

"I'm… I'm fine." Philia mumbled.

"Alright, we can head back if you want?" Noire asked.

"No… we can keep going." Philia muttered.

Noire and Strea looked at each other with raised eyebrows, but the two shrugged and they kept moving through the room, but, part way through, Philia's foot hit a switch, seemingly by accident, and the girl was pulled back just as the floor rose up and made a cage of sorts, trapping Noire and Strea inside it, and Philia was panting.

"Hmph, well played." A rather crazy sounding voice belonging to a male mused, and Philia stood up, an angry look on her face as she faced PoH, the leader of the Laughing Coffin Murder Guild, one of the few members who'd escaped the raid in August.

Wordlessly, PoH took off down the hall, and Philia growled, following after the killer. When the two were deep into the castle, the room was one that was commonplace as a crystal trap room, being walls that were an odd, blocky teal color that changed to red, and PoH laughed, Philis growling.

"Yeah! Great work Philia!" PoH mused.

"… I have to help Noire and Strea. Just finish what you have to do quick. I've done my part. Don't you dare ever show up in front of us again!" Philia snapped.

"Yeah, you've done your work well. That asshole Noire and your other little friend should be dead by now." PoH chuckled with a wild grin, and Philai's eyes widened.

"What are you saying!?" Philia demanded.

"What's wrong? You look like you just got a surprise present." PoH mused.

"Things aren't the way it should be! You said you wouldn't kill Strea and Noire!" Philia shouted, reaching for her dagger, her voice stressed

"Huh? Did I say that? Ohhhh. Sorry sorry. I forgot to tell you that many people have fallen into that trap and none of them have gotten out." PoH stated, licking his lips at the thought of their deaths.

"Damn you lying bastard!" Philia screamed. They couldn't be dead. No way. Not Strea, and especially _not _Noire.

"That's why I feel sorry and I'm telling you the truth now, aren't I. GOOD, GOOD, GOOD! You look like you are about to cry, that looks fabulous!" PoH chuckled, spotting the angry tears brimming in Philia's eyes.

"…Noire… I'm going to help you now!" Philia shouted, turning to go to the entrance.

"Aww~~~Hold on a minute, don't be so hasty. The Maverick Gamer is strong anyways~. He's going to be fine, right? So hear me out about one last thing. Or I'll just paralyze you." PoH stated, and Philia clenched her fist.

"Damn." Philia turned back around.

"Thanks to you, that bastard who was in the way is now gone~. So the best party can start soon." PoH stated with that wild tone of his.

"What's your purpose?" Philia grumbled, grinding her teeth together.

"As you know, my Guild is in shambles now, and if SAO is cleared, they will be gone and there will be no need for tests. But but but~~ Thanks to you, I can enjoy killing forever. I'm gratefulll~." PoH stated, though it was odd considering SAO still had more than thirty floors left to clear.

"Enjoy killing…..forever? I don't know what you mean!" Philia shouted, her voice growing louder and more strained.

"You and I have chosen it all. Killing Noire who you love, and Strea who you see as a sister with a trap and enjoying killing people forever here. All of it! All of it! ALLLLL with me! All were your choice." PoH stated with an ecstatic tone.

"No! It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong…" Philia muttered, starting to break down. It was all a lie, now way it could be true. PoH _had _to be lying.

"The Laughing Coffin Guild is happy to welcome a rotten killer like you…..Well then, my orange friend! Let's continue on our killing forever!" PoH stated in a mildly angry tone. He was annoyed at not getting through with this girl. After all, it'd been his fault her original party was dead in the first place, so why not get her in permanently?

"I'm not like you…..It's wrong…I'm….I'm…" Philia muttered, her eyes wide and her whole body was shaking.

"Huh? What's wrong? Isn't killing fun? Why aren't you enjoying it? Ha~~~~~~~~~~" Poh muttered as Philis fell to her hands in kness, tears in her eyes that were falling to the floor.

"I didn't do that." Philia mumbled in denial, and PoH just looked down at her with his emotionless gaze.

"Should I kill you?" PoH muttered, then delivering a powerful kick that knocking Philia across the room, the girl landing on her front, and PoH approached, "Oh sorry. I just feel like kicking you, does it hurt? I don't think so because we are in SAO."

"Why…I just wanted to explore together with Noire…" Philia muttered, her eyes wide in shock as tears welled up.

"Now, we can't have that, can we" PoH muttered as he grabbed the back of Philia's head and started repeatedly knocking her head on the ground, and the girl was still in such a sense of shock and denial to resist. "Why so attached? Why even bother? Both he and that other girl are gone, and it's your fault. What else is left for you eh!?"

PoH stood up and kicked Philia again, this time knocking her to her back, and the girls eyes were shut, her tears slipping past.

"Sorry… Noire…" Philia muttered.

"Hagh~ I was expecting great things from you, for you to scream like a girl when I'm about to kill you. Your reaction is so disappointing…but for you now, it's over. I have no more use for you, I can kill you." PoH moved and lifted Philia up by the front of her cloak, pulling out his cleaver from behind his cloak, taking the blade and Placing it on Philia's neck, a small red nick appearing as red polygons slowly flowed from there the blade was moving in, and Philia could feel the pressure on her neck, once again, more tears flowing.

"RRRAAAAGH!"

A yell, then the sound of a Sword Skill going off followed by the noise of a blade meeting body going off, and the hand holding Philia went flying off, PoH jumping back, Philia landing in a ungrateful heap on the ground behind her savior.

"Sheesh Philia, I had to look everywhere to find you. Don't worry me like that!" a familiar voice spoke, and Philia opened her eyes, seeing a black cloak in front of her with white covered arms, the right hand holding a black katana she knew well, and when she finally reached the persons head, she found her eyes locking with the ever familiar gaze of Noire looking back over his shoulder at her.

"N… Noire…" Philia mumbled as happy tears actually formed. _'He's alive… thank God he's alive!'_

"Damn, just as I thought. You disgusting bastard!" PoH spate, and Noire scoffed.

"PoH, not surprised to see you're still running around really. And as wicked as ever I see." Noire muttered, and PoH just spat at him.

"Noire… why?" Philia managed to whisper as she stood up, and Noire looked back at her again.

"Because why not? Not like I'm just gonna let my best friend vanish on me now. Besides, we've stuck together this long, why stop now?" Noire stated.

"But I… I betrayed you and Strea… I… I tried to kill you…" Philia mumbled, and Noire just smiled at her.

"But look, we're both fine and no harm was done. Besides, it'll take a lot more than some silly little trap to kill us. And besides, now I know who be pissed off at for why you were the way you were before!" noire raised his voice and turned back to PoH, who scoffed, and Philia was almost sobbing.

"Noire… Noire! I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!" Philia sobbed, burying her face into the back of Noire's cloak and hugging him from behind, and Noire put his left hand on one of hers.

"It'll be fine. We're getting out of this." Noire stated, and PoH laughed.

"How beautiful… Oh~~~~~ I'm so disgusted about it. Hard to imagine that you'll die soon." PoH mused, and Noire raised his blade, placing it back into its sheathe.

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" Noire muttered.

"You're not going to make it in time. The party is about to start." PoH chuckled, and Noire kept his cold gaze steady.

"If you have something to say, say it quick. You are eager to let us know, right?" Noire demanded with an edge of dripping sarcasm in his voice.

"That's right. I need guests for the party or else it's not fun. I have received a revelation…And I was scared by it. Making my heart…the dead heart scared! Can you believe that?! And things afterwards…they were so fun. The moment when the world became twisted… I know from that time that what I want to kill is people! I love the thrill of killing people. The facial expressions they have are great the moment when they die. Moreover I got surprise presents when I hunt them down." PoH stated ecstatically.

"So, you want to make this death game go on as long as possible just to satisfy your bloodlust? You're a damn monster." Noire stated, and PoH laughed.

"I don't just want to make it go on, I want to make it last forever so that I can keep killing people forever! There's bound to be a way, and I'll find it for sure!" PoH cackled.

"Not just a monster… you're insane! Besides the moment we clear the final floor you're done for anyway." Noire stated, and PoH made a questioning sound.

"Eh? But why should the me here have to vanish, leaving the me from the real world? That just doesn't seem fair, now does it?" PoH muttered, "But first, I need to take care of some things first: So let me hear you scream, Maverick Gamer! It's showtime!"

"Alright then… I won't hold back. You hurt Philia, and now I'll make you pay ten times over!" Noire shouted, moving ahead of Philia and assuming his normal stance as PoH charged, flicking out his blade to block PoH's strike, kicking the larger fighter back.

PoH growled an readied a sword skill, charging again, and Noire did the same, his blade moving fast enough to deflect the strike and cut PoH multiple times before the blade met it's sheathe again, and during the recovering stall PoH lashed out and damaged Noire as well, and as the two fighter leapt around slashing at each other and exchanging blows, Noire the more nimble one and taking less damage, no doubt to be sure he could use Darkness Blade, Philia was watching with wide eyes, back on her knees.

"Noire…" Philia muttered, gasping when it seemed he'd taken a bad hit, and PoH cackled.

"Don't think so!" Noire yelled as he moved and showed that he'd caught the strike, slamming his sheathe into PoH, slamming the murderer down to the ground, bringing his blade up, and PoH rolled just when the black katana came down, kicking Noire in the back of the head and sending him flying across the room, and Noire rolled to a stop, shooting up to his feet and jamming his sword back to the sheathe.

"Come on! I want to hear you scream Maverick Gamer! Show me how you fought back when you helped raid my guild! Show me that burning rage!" PoH roared as he charged with another Sword Skill, Noire meeting it with his own, a snarl on his face as PoH matched his slashes with a flurry of his own.

"If that's what you want, you'll get it!" Noire roared, glancing at his health. _'Just enough to end this!'_

Noire flipped back and assumed the needed stance for Darkness Blade, shadows pouring from his sheathe as he did, and PoH's manic grin grew wider.

"Yes! That's what I wanted to see! The blade wreathed in shadows! The one that brought ruin to the Laughing Coffin Guild!" PoH laughed as he dove back in, Noire bringing his blade out and clashing them again, a calm look on his face as he parried PoH's next strike and retaliated with his own, a trail of shadows following his blade as he sliced, and PoH seemed to relish seeing it.

"You are one twisted son of a bitch you know that!?" Noire yelled as he opened with a flurry of slashes when he deflected POH's blade again, sending his opponent flying backwards, and PoH skidded to a stop with a grin.

"If only we weren't enemies… you'fe make such a great killer… but I already made it my goal to kill you!" PoH roared, charging again, and Noire sheathed his blade, leaving a hand on it, and with one final sound of the blade leaving the sheathe and two sword skills, the two skidded a stop on opposite side of where they were, and PoH grinned, his health dropping down to the last, smallest bit before hitting zero.

"Awww… well… fine… guess… it was my turn… to get killed…" PoH scoffed as he fell to his knees before exploding into polygons, and Noire was panting raggedly.

"I… beat him… but… not just that…" Noire muttered, looking down at his hands, but shaking his head. That needed to be done. PoH was a monster that this world didn't need in it.

A moment later, Noire was nearly knocked over when Philia crashed into him, wrapping her amrs around him tightly as she broke down into sobs.

"Noire… I'm sorry… I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Philia sobbed, repeating that again and again, and Noire put a hand on her head.

"Philia, you've got nothing to be sorry for. We're both alive, and Strea's fine. Alright? No need to keep apologizing like that." Noire stated, but Philia was still sobbing and apologizing.

"I'm sorry Noire… it's just… he was the one who hurt my old friends… and then he came to me again and threatened to hurt you… I… I'm so sorry!" Philia sobbed, burying her face into Noire's shoulders, and Noire sighed again.

"Philia, I said it's fine. Besides, you know I hate seeing you cry." Noire stated.

"It's just… watching you fight… I was so scared… and when PoH said that I might've killed you… I… I didn't know what to do… I was terrified… I thought I lost you… and I just couldn't bear the thought of that!" Philia cried, and Noire moved his hands to her shoulders. "N-Noire?"

In the next moment, Noire had moved closer and placed his lips on Philia's, the girl letting out a small eep, but soon enough melted into Noire's arms and closing her eyes. After a bit longer, Noire pulled back, looking Philia in the eye, and he gleaned a small smile.

"There, you calm now?" Noire chuckled.

"Noire… you just…" Philis muttered, moving a hand to her lips, and Noire blushed.

"Well… I guess I ran out of options on how to calm you down… and… well… I mean… I… I like you Philia… a lot… I guess… it's not just like I… but…" Noire muttered, and Philia silenced him by kissing him again.

"Noire… I feel the same… and… let's say it together… not just one at a time…" Philia mumbled after pulling back, smiling and her eyes full of affection, and Noire moved to his full, completely dorky smile.

"Alright then Philia. Three… two…"

"**Aishiteru!" **Both said with full smiles on their faces.

**Outside**

Philia and Noire exited the castle, their hands entwined with each other's, and Strea ran up to them.

"Finally! I was waiting forever! What took you two?" Strea panted and then she noticed the two's joined hands. "Hmm? What's this?"

Noire and Philia just looked at each, then looking back at their friend and smiling.

"Nothing much. We'll tell the whole story later." Noire stated.

"But, well… we both realized something today. Something really important." Philia added, and Strea laughed, clapping her hands together before rushing and hugging her friends.

"About time you two! Hahahaha! That's awesome!" Strea laughed, Noire and Philia going red faced as Strea kept congratulating them. "Oh! You know what, you two should get married here in game! I think that would be cool! And Philia, you'd have to let me be the Maid of Honor!"

"S-Strea! The in game marriages are differnet!" Philia shouted.

"Hahahaha! Man, it never gets od with you two." Noire chuclled quietly, and Philia just snickered, the loving look on her face still present.

"Awwww! It's so cute that you two are finally together!" Strea laughed, both her friends rolling their eyes.

**A/N**

**This… was… very satisfying. And shoutout to a certain reader for helping me with the dialogue! You know who you are!**


	11. Inner Demons

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 11: Inner Demons**

_**September 29**__**th**__**,**____**Floor 61, Selmburb**_

_**Noire and Philia's home**_

It had been nine days since Noire's duel with PoH, and in that time, the most recent thing to occur was Noire moving to Selmburg to stay with Philia. And since it was night time, the two were sleeping, of course in the same bed, and Philia had her arms around Noire as usual whenever she stayed with him, but tonight, whatever she was dreaming about was leaving her with a distressed look and a cold sweat.

"NOIRE!" Philia shrieked, shooting up and panting, looking down and sighing with relief to see Noire was still beside her. "Good… it… it was just a dream…"

Even with the confirmation, Philia still had tears in her eyes.

"_Why… ever since then I've been having that same dream… and in it Noire keeps dying no matter how hard he fights… why do I keep having that dream?" _Philia thought, gently running a hand across Noire's hair, the boy's differently colored eyes fluttering open.

"Mhmm?" Noire muttered as he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Philia? Is something wrong?"

Philia just looked to the side for a moment, a little scared to say what it was.

"Philia… please… I can tell you were crying. What's wrong? Really? Every time we get up I always see that you've been sweating at night… can you at least tell me what's wrong?" Noire asked.

"W-well… ever since your duel with PoH… I've been having this nightmare… and in it… no matter how hard you're fighting you… you…" Philia muttered before breaking down into sobs, "I can't think about it! I know it's just a dream, but it terrifies me!"

"Whoa, Philia, slow down a moment." Noire put his hands on Philia's shoulders, concern on his face. "Slow down, and please tell me the whole story. Whatever you need to, I'll listen, alright?"

Philia nodded and sniffled a bit, wiping off her eyes.

"In the dream… you're… you're fighting PoH… and… when you're about to end it… he… he catches you by surprise and… and… and…" Philia started trailing off, and Noire didn't need to hear anything else, he just held Philia tight as the girl started sobbing again, letting her cry into his shoulder.

"Philia, it's alright. I promised you I'm not going to die. And I keep my promises. I even said that we're gonna get out of here, and I'm not going to leave you, alright?" Noire mumbled softly.

"I just… I just… I know what this world is like… I'm scared… I'm scared we might wind up in something like the other day…" Philia sniveled, and Noire put a hand on her head, giving a gentle smile.

We'll be fine, trust me, we won't fall for a trap like that again. But… Philia, I wanted to know… why did PoH even come to you in the first place?" Noire asked.

"It… the first time we met was sometime after you and I met… when I was in a guild…" Philia sniffed, pulling back and placing her hands on her knees, "And, one time we were out monster hunting, and then… we were attacked by Laughing Coffin, which by then was just starting out… I don't even know why… they just attacked us then and there… and one of them caught me, and I was forced to watch as they killed every single one of my friends… I… I can still hear them telling me to run and their terrified faces… it… it was horrible…" Philia muttered, tears streaming down her face as she spoke, and Noire used a finger to wipe them off, smiling gently, and Philis held his hand tight. "I… I don't even know why PoH decided to let me go… I thought that'd be the last time I heard of them personally… and then… it was late in August… after the raid on Laughing Coffin you went to… that… that was when PoH approached me…"

"I'll listen. Don't worry." Noire stated as Philia shuddered from trying to keep from breaking down again.

"Alright… so… it was late August… around the 29th… when we were in Algade…" Philia started.

_**August 29**__**th**__**, Floor 50, Algade**_

Philia was busy going through stalls to see if there was anything useful she could find for the next dive Noire had planned.

"We already have enough healing crystals for now… and teleport crystals as well… though not like we'd get trapped that easily." Philia mumbled, and even amid the crowd, she spotted a shadow near one of the alleyways looking right towards her, and the figure was cloaked, though it couldn't be Noire since the cloak was too short.

"Who is that?" Philia mumbled, the presence felt familiar though. When the figure vanished down the alley with a brief gesture, Philia grumbled to herself and followed, a little unsure about this. After chasing the figure through a few alley's and to a dead end.

"Hmm hmm hmm… never thought I'd run into you again." The figure spoke, and Philia recognized that voice.

"You… I know you… from back then… you're…" Philia mumbled, trying to remember the name, but she just couldn't.

"Oh? You don't remember? Maybe this will serve as a reminder." The figure chuckled, turning and raising his right arm, showing the tattoo of a member of Laughing Coffin, one no player in SAO didn't recognize.

"You're… with Laughin Coffin!? How… they were… Noire said that…" Philia gasped.

"Not all of us… of course some of us escaped from those fools. But, it has been a long time, Philia… over a year if I remember." The figure stated, and he sounded disappointed when Philia remained silent with a scared look.

"So, it seems you don't. well, to refresh your memory… I'm Laughing Coffin's leader." The figure chuckled in a wild tone, and Philia finally remember.

"PoH… you… it was you and some of the others who killed my friends… I THOUGHT I SAID NEVER SHOW YOUR FACE AGAIN!?" Philia snapped, and PoH laughed.

"Then I see you don't understand _why _I chose to let you go… Though I won't say why. But, the fact you've found new friends, one of them being that annoying Maverick Gamer, Noire, I felt a need to step in." PoH snickered.

"What… what do you want?" Philia growled, wishing she could use her dagger, but they were in a safe zone, so neither she nor PoH could do anything at the moment.

"Oh nothing much… but, let's just say I want some help with trapping that bastard." PoH snickered.

"You're crazy if you think I'd _ever _help anyone hurt him! No way in hell!" Philia snapped.

"HAHAHAHA! Then you underestimate me… I don't want him dead… well, he will be if you don't help me." PoH stated.

"Yeah right… there's no way you could beat Noire… I really doubt it." Philia scoffed, and PoH laughed.

"KYAHAHAHAHAHA! How confident are you in him? And just what is that talking in your voice? Bravado, or something else? Hehehehehee… this just made things all the better for me~!" PoH snickered, throwing his head back, and Philia's eyes widened for a moment. "I have my ways of getting to people… just like I did with you. I can do the same with him. Nobody is immovable."

"I still doubt it… if you do Noire can still find a way to beat you… I know it." Philia growled.

"KYAHAHAHA! It's adorable how much faith you place in him!" PoH laughed mockingly, "But still, if you do what I ask, then I won't kill you. Does that sound good to you?"

Philia growled a bit again. This was just ridiculous to her.

"You swear… you swear he and Strea won't be hurt? Because if you so much as lay a finger on them I swear…" Philia growled, and PoH chuckled.

"Don't worry, I won't touch them when they're trapped." PoH stated, then muttering something under his breath, "Besides, I won't even need to."

"What was that?" Philia growled.

"Nothing, nothing at all~." PoH chuckled.

**Present**

"And… that's what happened… after that he just vanished… and you know the rest." Philia mumbled, "Noire… I… I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't want to but… I… I didn't want you to get hurt and…"

Philia was silenced when Noire gently kissed her, and she returned it.

"I told you, it's fine, it's all done and over, in the past. It doesn't matter to me Philia. We _will _get out of here. Tough… for now we just have to live our life in here, that's all for now…"

"But… I don't just want a life in here… I want a life in the real world too… where we can be a real couple and do things like that! I want to have kids and grow into some cheesy old couple with you… I want to meet you and Strea for real so we can always be friends… I just want to leave this place…" Philia sobbed, and Noire chuckled in a soft tone with a warm smile on his face.

"And we can do that. We just have to get out of here first, and I promise it will happen. Even though we have so many floors left, we're making progress. I know we can get out here Philia… so just have the same determination I do for this."

"I… I'll try… No… I will… I'll be strong… so that you don't have to worry about me!" Philia dired up her tears and finally smile, and Noire chuckled.

"Took you long enough to smile." Noire chuckled, putting a hand on Philia's head again, and Philia relaxed a bit, closing her eyes.

"_All I have to do is believe in Noire… but I need to rely on my own strength as well as his…" _Philia thought, leaning up to Noire again and pushing him down to the bed, staring right into his eyes.

"Noire… you know I love you… more than anything…" Philia stated, and Noire grinned again.

"You don't need to repeat yourself… and so do I… I'll say it again… we _will _get out of here… that's one promise I'm going to keep even if… hmm… even if I need to do something I'd regret… dying for someone is too clichéd." Noire stated, and Philia giggled.

"That's one thing I love about you… you never follow rules and play to win…"

Philia leaned down, to kiss Noire again, and the room was going to wind up far from silent that night…

**Morning**

Noire was looking at the sunrise from the balcony, glad there was an actual view, and he brought down his menu, opening up the news panel.

"Hmm… nothing new except for the clearing on floor 74… finally… hmm? Interesting… something to do with Kirito…" He muttered, and after reading the speculation he grinned with a chuckled, "Well, seems he's the third one to have one of those unique skills… I kinda of wonder which is better, my Darkness Blade or his Dual Wielding? Eh, doesn't really matter to me." Noire closed the window and his eyes went back to staring out into space, a somber light in them.

"_It's almost been two years since we were trapped in here by Kayaba Akihiko… and we've got one fourth of the floors to go… but… I just have this feeling of foreboding… like from here on out… things might just get worse for us… MMO's always wind up like this… get so far… and then the game starts pulling out the stops to make sure it becomes as difficult as possible to keep moving forward…" _he thought, looking back to the sleeping Philia before facing forward again, the breeze ruffling his hair.

"But… I can't let that slow me down… that's not how I work… not anymore… I won't give up until we can get out of this place and back to the real world… because I keep the promises I make now." Noire muttered, letting out a breath. "Next chance we get… we're joining the assault team…"

**A/N**

**Guuuyyyygggghhhhh…. This one was strangely hard to finish up for me… well, part of that may be because I'm debating on the theme song for the next arc… but, shout out to all reviewers for their support!**


	12. The Mysterious Girl

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 12: The Mysterious Girl…**

**October 31****st****, 2024**

**Floor 1: Town of Beginnings**

"Noire, why'd we come back here? The town is pretty empty…" Philia mumbled as she, Noire, and Stre walked around the town, all of them in their casual getup, and now, Noire and Philia had silver rings on their ring fingers, Noire's on his right and Philia's on her left so that way the rings would touch when they held hands.

"EH… nostalgic reasons." Noire stated as they entered the plaza where the entire death game stated.

"Hmm… I remember the day this all began… how the sky turned red…" Strea mused.

"And then Akihiko Kayaba declared we were all trapped in this place." Philia sighed, leaning her head on Noire's shoulder.

"And that was the day I swore I'd get out of here and find out just why he did all of this… wonder how much closer we can get for that last part?" Noire mumbled, looking up at the clouds, the breeze blowing his hair to the side.

"_Just how much longer will we be trapped here? We reached floor 75 not that long ago… and yet nobody has seems to have located the boss room… and I just have this feeling that things won't go nearly was well with this one…" _Noire thought.

"Well, let's not dwell on that too much. C'mon, maybe we can see if there's anyone else around." Noire stated, and the two girls nodded, starting their walk again. The town didn't really have too many people in it anymore, since players here usually moved up to the higher floors once the assault team opened them up, but there were some left… but not many, and really, the only noteworthy inhabitants was the Aincrad Liberation Army, people who Noire, Philia, and Strea had run into many a time during their explorations, and often times, Noire's status as a Beater wasn't received kindly by some.

Some ways down, they heard a commotion down one of the alleys, and all three poked their heads out from around a corner to see some Army members cornering a few helpless kids and the young woman who was most likely their caretaker.

"Return the children!" The woman snapped.

"You make it sound like we're doing something bad!" The lead soldier chuckled. "We're just teaching them how things work around here. This is an important part of the Army's mission."

"That's right. The citizenry has a duty to pay taxes!" Another soldier chuckled.

"Taxes my ass. Those are kids, what could they pay?" Noire growled, and Philia was grumbling. "Philia?"

"Hey! Assholes!" Philia yelled, stepping out into view. "What the hell do you think you're doing!? Those are kids! Why the heck would they have to pay taxes to you jerks!?"

The soldiers growled when Pghilia pointed at them accusedly.

"Watch who you're talking to girly! This is army business so why don't you just but out and go back to whatever you were doing?" The lead soldier growled, putting a hand on his sword, and Philia glared at him, and Noire chuckled darkly.

"Y'know, if I were you guys, I wouldn't be talking to her that way… people tend to get hurt when they piss me off." Noire grumbled as he walked out from behind the corner and into view, approaching slowly and keeping his eyes hidden.

"Tch… who are you, her boyfriend? Neither of you have business here. These people are far behind on taxes and it needs to eb paid, so back off." The lead soldier growled, and Noire stopped a few paces in front of him, slowly looking up, and the soldiers all gasped when they saw his multicolored eyes.

"One blue eye and one green eye? There's only one person in SAO who's like that…" One of the soldiers gasped as Noire brought Noire Lumiere into his left hand, putting his right hand on it's hilt, and behind Strea, who was further back, Kirito along with Asuna and a young, black haired girl riding on Kirito's back rushed into the scene, both of them gasping.

"B-Boss… T-That's… The Maverivk Gamer Noire!" Another soldier gasped, and Noire smirked.

"Ah, good to see my reputation hasn't dwindled." Noire chuckled, assuming the stance for Darkness Blade, and the soldiers backed up as shadows began streaming from the sheathe, "Now, you can either leave these kids be and _scat, _or I can whoop each and every one of you five times to Sunday. Just because this is a safe zone doesn't mean you won't feel anything if I hit you a few dozen times."

"Hey, kids! It'll be okay, alright?" Philia called out, and the kids nodded.

"So, what's it gonna be?" Noire chuckled, drawing his sword out slightly, the familiar sounds of the blade exiting making some of the soldiers flinch, and the lead on growled, moving forward as he started to unsheathe his sword.

"I don't care if you are the Maverick! I'll show them here and now you're no threat!" The soldier yelled, and before his sword could get another inch out of it's sheathe, the sound of a Sword Skill activating was heard, and with flashes of shadows and light, the lead soldier was sent flying back into the wall, Noire skidding to a stop by the kids, swinging his blade to the side and dispersing the shadows as the kids made awed gasps, the lead soldier getting up.

"So, do I need to do that with the rest of you? I can pound on you guys as much as I want since this _is _a safe zone after all. Your HP won't go down no matter what I do to you. And I've been told I can be pretty terrifying at times." Noire chuckled.

"What are you waiting for, do something!" The lead soldier shouted, and Noire gave a glare, leveling his blade at them, and then the rest of the soldiers ran off with terrified screams, their leader following after, and Noire did his usual movements before sheathing his sword, looking calm for a moment before laughing.

"HAHAHAHA! Man their faces were priceless! That was freaking hilarious!" Noire pratciclly cackled, a dorky smirk on his face as he bent over a bit, and Philia sighed as the kids aweing and saying how awesome they thought he was, putting her hands on her hips, and the young woman seemed concerned, Noire looking a little embarrassed at the moment.

"Don't worry, Noire is always like this. He doesn't really like the Army much." Philia chuckled.

"They've never really seen eye to eye." Strea shrugged, and Kirito approached from behind with Asuna.

"Well, nice to see you defused that situation as expected. Granted, a little too violent if you ask me. But, you always did jump to that, Noire." Kirito chuckled, and Strea turned around as the three new arrivals approached, and Noire grinned, giving a small chuckle as he turned around.

"Hey! Long time no see Kirito! Haven't see you or Asuna since August." Noire chuckled, he and Kirito shaking hands.

"Yeah… that was kind of crazy then… by the way… I heard about… you know who… and how you fought him and won." Kirito stated, and Noire sighed.

"Yeah… _him. _But, I'm not going to dwell on it." Noire sighed, wanting not to go back to that day, placing Noire Lumiere across his shoulders, and then he noticed that the girl on Kirito's back was shying away.

"Hey, it's okay Yui. I know Noire looks scary but he's really a pretty nice and honest person. Once you get past the cold hearted jerk he can be. He actually punched the raid party leader when we were on the earlier floors." Kirito chuckled.

"Hey! You know as well as I do that the…" Noire stopped himself from cursing in front of the kids before continuing, "… that he deserved that punch! And I do not look scary! It's just that some people get freaked out by how my eyes are different colors!" he snapped, and Yui shrunk back a bit, and Noire took a breath to calm himself down, storing Noire Lumiere and putting his hands up. "Sorry…"

"Really Noire? You had to scare her?" Philia sighed, smacking Noire on the back of the neck.

"HEY!" Noire snapped, and when Noire had a clenched fist up, that was when Kirito and Asuna noticed the rings on the two's hands as the started one of their classic shouting matches, though not like it would last very long with the way they acted nowadays.

"Wait… are you two…" The Kirito and Asuna gasped, and Strea nodded.

"Yep! They married a couple weeks ago, though they've been living together for quite a while now. And hi Yui! I'm Strea, nice to meet you!" Strea smiled, and Yui grinned softly.

"Nice to meet you to." Yui nodded, and Strea chuckled.

"You are just the cutest thing I've ever seen! Asuna, where did you two come across her?" Strea asked excitedly, and Asuna chuckled.

"Kirito and I found her in the forest near our home on floor 25… we came here because she can't remember anything." Asuna stated, patting Yui on the head.

"I don't really mind Mommy, so long as I'm with you and Daddy right now." Yui stated.

"MOMMY!? DADDY!? SAY WHAT!?" Noire, Philia, and Strea yelping in shock, and then Strea smirked.

"Ohhh! Hey, Noire, Philia… maybe you could consider having your own child here in the game." Strea chuckled with a sly smirk, getting her two friends to blush furiously, and Noire started to stutter trying to get his words out.

"S-Strea… I'm… not so sure… t-that it's… e-even possible!" Noire stuttered.

"Yeah, and not like we've done _anything _like that… Ehehehe… no way… we _totally _didn't." Philia chuckled, twiddling her fingers nervously, their other friends laughing at their nervous acts of denial, and Yui looked up.

"Everyone… Everyon'e hearts…" Yui mumbled, reaching up towards the sky ceiling.

"Yui?" Asuna muttered.

"Everyone's hearts…" Yui mumbled.

"Is… she okay?" Philia asked.

"What does she mean by that?" Noire muttered under his breath. This wasn't adding up to him right now. "Everyone's hearts" Could that possibly have something to do with the other players fighting on the higher floors right now?

"Yui, what's wrong?" Kirito asked, and then Yui lowered her arm.

"Yui, did you remember something?" Asuna asked.

"I… I… I wasn't here… I was always alone… in the dark…" Yui mumbled, and Noire and Philia looked at each other.

"What does she mean by that?" Philia asked, and Noire shook his head, and everyone flinched when Yui's eyes widened and the girl let out a scream of pain, a horrible static sound in the air, and Asuna caught Yui as she fell, the girl sobbing in fear as she buried her face into Asuna's shoulder.

"Poor girl… who knows what she's been through?" Strea muttered, her hands near her mouth.

"What… just happened?" Noire muttered, taking his hands off his ears.

"I… don't know…" Philia mumbled, all three looking down at Kirito, Asuna, and Yui with surprise on their faces. This mystery was now just begging to be solved…

**A/N**

**And so, we draw closer to the battle on floor 75 and the end of the SAO arc. I have a few plans to take care of once out of SAO before delving into Alfheim however, hehehe…**


	13. Family is Forever

My Sword, My Wings, My Gun

**Chapter 13: Family is Forever**

_**November 1**__**st**__**, 2024**_

_**Floor 1: Town of Beginning's Church**_

Noire was leaning on the wall, looking around at all the kids eating inside the church, a small grin on his face due to all the rowdy chatter filling the air, having been dragged there by Philia and Strea since those two were just as worried about Yui, who was sitting at the table nearby with Kirito, Asuna, Philia, Strea, and the girl they'd met the other day, Sasha.

"Man, I had no idea there were this many kids playing this game…" Noire murmured.

"This is incredible." Kirito mused.

"Yeah, it's like this every day." Sasha stated, and Strea got up to go and chat with some of the kids, letting Noire take her seat next to Philia. "Is Yui okay?"

"She got a good night's sleep, and you can see it helped." Kirito stated, and Yui looked right as rain as she munched on her bread.

"She's so adorable." Philia giggled, leaning on Noire's shoulder, the teen nodding.

"Has this ever happened before?" Sasha asked, looking between Kirito and Asuna, Noire and Philia also looking at the other couple in the room.

"We don't know." Asuna replied, "When we found her, she was wandering in the forest on the 22nd Floot. It seems that she's lost her memories."

"Oh my…" Sasha mumbled.

"Poor girl…" Noire muttered.

"She was just by herself? All alone in a forest like that… wow…" Philia mumbled, leaning on her arms, and Noire put a hand on her back.

"So, we came to the Town of Beginnings." Asuna continued, and Yui handed her a roll of bread, "We thought someone here might know about her." Asuna added as she patted Yui on the head.

"Any ideas?" Kirito asked Sasha.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think she's one of the kids from the Town of Beginnings." Sasha stated.

"Hmm… I could see if Argo knows anything next time I run into her…" Noire mumbled, now in his normal thinking position with a hand on his chin.

"Well, when the game started, most of the children suffered terrible psychological trauma." Sasha added, "I wanted to do something, so I took them in at this church. Every day, I walk around the town to see if anyone needs my help, but I've never seen anyone like her."

"Well, not like she could've just, appeared out of thin air right?" Noire mumbled, and a knock on the door diverted the attention of those at the table and Strea, and when they opened the door, they were greeted by a silver haired women wearing an Aincraid Liberation Force uniform.

"Hello. I am Yulier." The woman introduced, bowing in introduction as a courtesy, and Noire hid a bit since he and the ALF had never seen eye to eye to start with… for the most part.

"Aren't you with the Army?" Asuna asked. "Are you here to complain about yesterday.

"Obviously… and I do not regret handing those guys their asses." Noire whispered, Philia elbowing his arm to make him come out.

"Noire, now isn't the time." Philia mumbled.

"Not at all. It's the reverse." Yulier stated, and Noire made a slightly surprised sound along with everyone else. "Honestly, I wanted to thank you."

"Say what? Uh… Ms. Yulier… to make it clear…" Noire muttered.

"I know you've never really seen eye to eye with the army, I hear of it all the time. You have a bit of a record for punching raid team leaders." Yulier stated with a hint of amusement, and Noire sighed.

"Wait, a record?" Kirito asked.

"The last count was thirty five raid leaders smacking between the eyes." Noire stated as he folded his arms, "But, why is someone from the Army here anyway?"

"I've come with a request for you five today." Yulier stated.

"A request, for us?" Strea asked, pointing at her and the other four high level players present, since she knew well enough Kirito and Asuna were in the same level range as her, Philia, and Noire, which was the mid to high 90s.

"Yes." Yulier nodded.

**Later/Tavern**

Yulier had the others and Yui gathered around a table, the smaller girl started to drift off, and Strea was helping to keep her awake as Yulier explained her situation.

"We… no, the Guild leader, Thinker, never wanted it to be a doctorial organization like it's become. We wanted to share information and food evenly among as many players as possible." Yulier stated.

"But the Army grew too large." Kirito stated.

"And let me guess, somebody decided they wanted power?" Noire added.

"Yes, there were multiple internal power struggles, and a man named Kibaou ended up with a great deal of power." Yulier stated, surprising Kirito and Noire, since after all, they were Beat Testers, and that particular player Yulier mentioned had a grudge against Beta Tester's no matter who they were.

"I remember that guy… more so I specifically remember how ticked he looked _after _I slugged him between the eyes." Noire muttered.

"I remember that…" Kirito sighed. It seemed there was no way to forget the times Noire had slugged party leaders during the early floor raids and even after just to get a point across.

"Kibaou and his faction have grown strong." Yulier continued, "monopolizing all the best monster spawn points, and have even started extorting people for taxes. But many people were upset with his lack of interest in clearing the game. So, he sent the highest level players available to the front lines."

That surprised Kirito and Asuna, who, Noire guessed must have run into those players at some point before the clearing of the 75th Floor, and by another guess, that those players were slaughtered.

"After that massacre, he's taken a lot of heat and we're close to dismissing him from the guild." Yulier continued on, and Noire hummed as he leaned on his hand. "But, he is scared and desperate, so he set a trap for Thinker. Thinker's been stranded deep in a dungeon!"

"Does he have a teleport crystal?" Kirito gasped as Yulier's look saddened, and the woman shook her head, and Noire had a feeling he knew _which _dungeon Yulier was talking about, and he gave a passing glance to Philia and Strea, his two companions nodding.

"Unarmed?" Asuna asked next.

"Just what happened to cause this?" Strea asked.

"He was too trusting. He believed Kibaou when he said he only wanted to talk unarmed. That was three days ago…" Yulier stated, and Philia growled.

"So Kibaou tricked him with lies… boy do I know what that's like…" Philia muttered, her hands tightening against themselves.

"So he's been in this dungeon for three days straight… do you know what happened to him?" Noire asked.

"It's a ver high-level dungeon. He's trapped there." Yulier muttered, "As his second in command, this is my responsibility. But my level isn't high enough to reach him. And Kibaou is using his influence to prevent the rest of the Army from helping. And then I heard that a few incredibly high-powered players had come here. And so, I'm asking for your help!" Yulier stood, and the others gasped, "Kirito, Asuna, Noire, Philia, Strea. Would you please come and save Thinker with me?"

"I'd like to help, if we're able." Asuna answered, "But, we have to verify that you're telling the truth."

"I know what I'm asking is a lot, but when I think of him trapped in there… I feel like I'm losing my mind!" Yulier started, tears forming.

"She's not lying." Strea interjected, the others looking at her, and Strea just grinned, "No way she could be. I can tell just by looking at her. Besides, if she was she wouldn't be sounding like Philia does when she worried about Noire."

"Strea!?" Philia yelped, and her friend chuckled.

"Mhmm… Strea's right… it's okay, she's telling the truth." Yui stated.

"See? I'm not the only one who's good at reading people." Strea chuckled, patting Yui on the head for a moment.

"H-How can you two tell?" Asuna gasped, and Strea just shrugged.

"I can't explain why… But I know." Yui stated, and then Kirito and Noire laughed.

"I'd rather trust and regret than doubt and regret." Kirito stated.

"Yep, and I trust Strea's judgment to know she'd know that she's right. So, let's get going. I'm sure this'll work out. Right?" Noire chuckled, Philia and Asuna looking at each other before looking back at Noire and Kirito.

"Oh I'm sure it will. There shouldn't be any problems don't you think?" Kirito chuckled, and Noire rolled his eyes.

"You're always so laid back." Asuna sighed in regards to Kirito.

"And you're as impulsive as ever Noire." Philia chuckled. "Okay, we'll do what we can to help!"

"Thank you." Yulier said gratefully, relief coming off her voice.

"I know how it feels to want to save someone you care for." Asuna stated.

"And just about all three of us have been around that area at one point or another." Strea added.

"Stay here." Kirito said to Yui.

"No, I'm coming too!" Yui stated firmly.

"Yui, stay here with me, okay?" Sasha suggested.

"No!" Yui stated, shaking her head.

"Seems you guys have a rebellious kid." Noire chuckled, tapping Kirito on the shoulder.

"Ehheh… well…" Kirito sighed.

"Don't be silly! Yui, the place we're going is dangerous!" Asuna stated, and Yui grabbed Kirito's arm.

"I'm going too!" Yui stated.

"Well, guess there's no stopping her." Strea chuckled.

**Black Iron Castle Dungeon**

The rescue team was proceeding through the lower halls, everyone in their full combat attire, and Yui was riding on Kirito's shoulders.

"Sheesh, who knew a dungeon like this had been underneath this town the whole time." Noire mumbled as he looked around.

"This place reminds me of the New Moon Castle for some reason…" Philia mused.

"It does look like it's hallways, doesn't it?" Strea chuckled.

"This wasn't here during the Beta Test." Kirito stated.

"Yeah… I think we would have remembered something like this…" Noire muttered.

"It probably opens further as the floors above are cleared." Yulier stated, "Kibaou planned to keep it for himself."

"Exclusive access to spawns can be quite profitable." Kirito stated.

"Yeah, if you wanna use them for extortion. Man I hate guys like Kibaou." Noire grumbled.

"But the monsters that spawn around here have levels within the 60s. So he wasn't able to do much hunting." Yulier stated.

"Hmm… I wonder if there's any boss type monsters down here." Strea mused.

"Probably… and for some reason I don't want to meet any of them…" Philia muttered as they came to a staircase.

"This is the entrance." Yulier stated as the party looked dow the dark passage, and Yui leaned forward a bit.

"I'm not scared!" Yui chuckled.

"It's okay." Asuna nodded when Yulier looked concerned. "She's much tougher than she looks."

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll be a fine swordsman someday." Kirito stated.

"Hahaha! Only you would say that Kirito." Noire laughed.

"I'm pretty sure you'd do the same thing. I mean, it's already a little obvious you and Philia have plans." Kirito muttered.

"We have not done anything like that!" Noire and Philia snapped as their faces reddened.

"Yes they have." Strea chuckled, the others laughed much to the embarrassment of Noire and Philia.

"Let's go then." Yulier stated, and they proceeded down the stairwell until they reached a hallway, and then a myriad of red gleams filled the space before them, a bunch of frog like mobs before them, Kirito and Noire rushing forward with swords bared, cutting through the enemies with ease, and Yui watched with awe on her face.

"I'm sorry for not helping." Yulier stated.

"No, this is his kind of thing." Asuna chuckled.

"Yeah… besides… I hate mobs like that… it's better Noire goes through them…" Philia stated, making an "eck" sound.

"Hehehe… is it just me or do those two seem to be competing?" Strea giggled as Yulier opened her map up.

"We're pretty far down, are we almost there?" Asuna asked.

"Thinker hasn't moved from here." Yulier stated as the others looked at the map, a dot showing Thinker's location present on it. "I think he's in a safe spot. If we can reach it, we can use a teleport crystal."

The sound of swords entering sheathes sounded, and Noire and Kirito had finished clearing the hallway.

"Well, I think I managed to bag the most from this." Noire chuckled.

"No way. I was moving faster _and _have two swords. No way you bagged more!" Kirito stated.

"Wanna beat? Iaito is a faster sword style than dual wielding any day!" Noire snapped.

"We can prove it here and now if you want." Kirito chuckled.

"Okay you two, enough stroking your egos." Philia sighed.

"HEY!" Noire and Kirito snapped as they walked over to the others.

"Sorry for that…" Yulier mumbled.

"No, it was a good fight." Kirito chuckled.

"Yep! And I needed the work out anyway. I've been taking a bit too much time off, so I don't want to get rusty." Noire snickered as he stretched.

"Oh yeah, they dropped stuff to." Kirito added.

"Anything good?" Asuna asked, and Kirito smirked.

"Uh… Kirito… I'm not sure if…" Noire started, but it was already too late: What Kirito had brought out was a raw frog leg, and that caused Asuna and Philia to wig out.

"Wh-What is this?" Asuna gasped.

"Noire… you don't have any of those too… do you?" Philia muttered, her hands near her mouth.

"Uh… kind of…" Noire mumbled, opening his menu and bringing one of the legs out. "It's scavenged toad meat…"

"From those frogs!?" Asuna and Philia yelped.

"They say the stranger it is, the better it tastes!" Kirito chuckled.

"Kirito, I don't think those are words to live by…" Noire mumbled with a sigh.

"Cook it up later!" Kirito stated as he held the leg out to Asuna, completely ignoring the warning Noire had given.

"No way!" Asuna yelled, grabbing the meat and throwing it far off down the hall, Kirito yelping.

"Wh-What are you doing!?" Kirito gasped, "Damn it… fine then!" he growled, turning around and bringing out all the frog meat he could fit into his arms.

"Noire… you're… gugh… I'm gonna be sick…" Philia mumbled as Asuna started chucking every piece of the toad meat she could grab away down the hall.

"No, I'm not. Heck, I never even thought about it." Noire sighed as he deleted the excess toad meat from his inventory, throwing the one he'd brought out over his shoulder.

"Oh Noire, you're so considerate." Strea giggled, and as the two groups went about their respective babbling, Yulier actually smiled and laughed, and Yui noticed that.

"You smiled." Yui stated, everyone stopping and looking at the girl, Asuna in the middle of shoving one of the frog legs into Kirito's mouth, "It's the first time you've smiled!"

From that alone, the entire group started smiling.

"Well, Kirito and Asuna sure have a good kid with them." Strea chuckled as they started moving again.

"Yep… still… I feel sorry for her, not being able to remember anything." Philia stated as they entered another hall, Yui asleep on Asuna's back, and they started to near a light near the end of the area.

"There's the safe zone." Asuna stated.

Noire and Kirito activated their detection skill, their eyes turning emerald.

"I can see one player inside it." Kirito stated.

"Is that Thinker?" Noire mumbled.

"Thinker?" Yulier gasped, running ahead.

"Yulier, hold up!" Philia yelped as they all started matching pace.

"Yulier!" Thinker yelled as they neared, waving out to the group.

"Thinker!" Yulier yelled back happily, waving back to her guild leader, and the others seemed happy enough.

"Stay back!" Thinker shouted, "That corridor is…"

Noire gasped when a name showed up in his HUD: The Fatal Scythe. And whatever it was, it was coming quick.

"Get back!" Noire shouted as he and Kirito rushed forward.

"Yulier, get back!" Asuna shouted, and just as a scythe that was much larger than the players came down, Kirito got Yulier out of the way, and Noire deflected the blade with a quick swipe of Noire Lumiere, and then the hallway changed shading like a boss room as the scythe, and whatever was wielding it, retreated, Kirito and Noire following after it.

"Yulier, retreat to the safe area with her." Asuna stated.

"We'll take care of this thing!" Philia stated as she brandished Sword Breaker.

"Right…" Yulier nodded.

"Mama…" Yui muttered.

"Let's go." Yulier stated, putting a hand on Yui's shoulders and leading the girl to the safe zone, and then the other three turned with weapons ready to see what Noire and Kirito were facing: a massive entity that looked like the Grim Reaper, a skull mask underneath it's dark hood.

"Well… this one looks dangerous…" Noire muttered.

"Asuna, use a teleport crystal to get Yui and the others out of here." Kirito stated.

"Philia, Strea, the same to you. My ID skill isn't helping here… but it's cursor is red…" Noire growled as Fatal Scythe raised his weapon.

"It's probably as strong as something from the 90th floor." Kirito growled. "We'll buy time, so run!"

"Y-You come with me!" Asuna gasped.

"Noire are you crazy!? I'm not leaving you here!" Philai shouted.

"We'll catch up, so go! Strea, make sure she gets out of here!" Noire snapped.

"Sorry Noire, but I'm with Philia here, we aren't letting you fight this thing alone." Strea stated as she walked up to Noire's side with her claymore ready.

"Take care of Yui! You three should run!" Asuna shouted to the three in the safe zone.

"Get out of here, we'll fight it!" Philia yelled.

"Asuna!" Kirito snapped.

"Philia, no!" Noire snapped, but by now he knew there was no turning back, and when the boss readied it's scythe, the three barred their weapons to block as Kitiro and Asuna did the same, and while they did block the massive scythe, all five were sent flying, slamming into the ceiling and ladning heavily on the ground.

"Damn… how strong is that thing?" Noire growled as he got onto his elbows, and his eyes widened when he saw that his and his two companions health plummeted down by half. "Damn… does it have to be like this?"

"Yui, don't!" Yulier yelled as Yui stepped out.

"It's dangerous!" Thinker yelled, but by then the two had already teleported out, and Yui stood in front of the Fatal Scythe.

"Don't be stupid! Get out of here!" Kirito yelled.

"What… do you think you're doing!?" Noire snapped.

"Yui…" Asuna gasped.

"It's okay… Papa, Mama…" Yui stated as the boss readied it's weapon for another strike, and Asuna screamed as the scythe came down, but it stopped dead a short ways from Yui, a barrier forming that repelled the beast, and above Yui, the tag "Immortal Object" appeared.

"What in the…" Noire gasped, and then Yui rose up into the air, raising a hand, gathering orange energy that exploded into a massive red sword with flames wreathing the blade, her clothes changing to a simple white dress, and Yui raised the blade, flying forward and slamming it down onto the Fatal Scythe, the five on the ground watching in shock as orange light filled the area as the sword tore through the boss, erasing it within a ball of fire that shrunk and vanished, the room returning to it's normal colors, and the others shakily rose to their feet.

"Yui?" Asuna mumbled.

"What was that?" Noire muttered, and he looked back, and for some reason, Strea seemed… sad… like something bad had happened. "Strea?"

"I… have something to tell you… Noire… Philia…" Strea muttered, and then they all entered the safe zone, and when they did, Noire and Philia gasped to see what looked like lines of code drift off Strea for a moment.

"Strea?" Philia asked as her friend looked down.

"Strea… what's going on? What was that?" Noire mumbled, and Strea sat down on the black stone, sitting across from Yui, whom Kirito and Asuna were talking to.

"Noire… Philia… the truth is… I'm… I'm not like you… I'm… I'm not human…" Strea stated, tears starting to fall from her eyes, though they were vanishing into faint twinkles of light.

"Strea… what do you mean?" Philia asked.

"I'm like Yui… I'm an AI created by the system… the single, immense system that controls the entire world of Sword Art Online… the Cardinal System. It was made to operate without any human intervention, and balances of the world by it's own discretion… monsters and NPC AI, drop rates and money… everything is controlled by the Cardinal… and even players psychological care is handles by this system. And that's' me… Mental Health Counseling Program, prototype 2. Strea…" Strea muttered, Philia and Noire gasping. "I was supposed to be a silent observer… watching the players mental states while Yui was to help counsel the players and make them feel better. Also, I was too feed data back to Cardinal to help it learn how the players performed so it could make the upper floors progressively more difficult… but… in the first few months of the game… I grew more interested in the players themselves… I wanted to learn more about them… originally, I didn't have a personality… I was a blank slate who onlt thought of observing those players I found interesting… and then I found someone… someone who, even though outwardly, they seemed cold, deep down they had one of the kindest hearts I could see… that was you Noire…"

Noire looked down a bit as Philia nearly started crying herself, and Strea wiped off her eyes.

"So… that's when I decided to follow you… I wanted to know more about the person who was like that… and then my personality changed after some time, and then I was recognized as a player character. I become the Strea you know now… and that personality and emotions I developed… it caused me to fall in love with you Noire… I watched you and learned… I saw the kind person you really are… and I couldn't help but fall in love… it's funny… an AI like me… falling for a human… I never wanted to leave you Noire… I wanted to help you get out of this game… you and Philia both… and as I saw both of you interact… I realized that I hadn't just found one, but two people with good hearts despite the situation you were in… I'm sorry you two… I'm sorry I lied to you… I'm sorry you had to realize I'm not real… my personality and emotions aren't real…" Strea sobbed, and Philia hugged her.

"Strea… it doesn't matter! Even if you're an AI, you're human to me and Noire! You're every bit as real as me and him! You have a heart, you have more heart than anyone I've met before. You're like a sister to me… I don't want to lose you. We've been together with Noire for two years, and I wouldn't trade that for the world… please… just stay… we're a family… you can't go" Philia sobbed, and Strea had a sad smile.

"I'm sorry Philia… I can't… and… Noire… can I kiss you? At least once? I want to know how it feels… because Cardinal recognized my base algorithm… so… please? Philia… you don't mind… do you?" Strea asked, and Philia shook her head, wiping off her eyes.

"No… I don't…" Philia sobbed, and Noire put a hand on her shoulder, and Strea stood up, stepping towards Noire.

"To be honest Noire… I wanted to be the first person you kissed… but… I don't really mind… look after Philia, okay? She needs you… in a lot of ways." Strea stated, and Noire smiled as his own eyes teared up.

"I will… I promise." Noire nodded.

"Good…" Strea stated, stepping slightly closer to Noire and gently kissing him, making it deep and enjoying that feeling, Noire not resisting, and Strea pulled back after a bit longer, "Hmm… thank you…"

Philia and Noire gasped when Strea started twinkling, her form turning transparent.

"I'm sorry… even if my feelings are strong… I can't stop this… I really wanted to spend more time with you two… that's all I want now. The console here gives the GMs emergency access… and now…" Strea sobbed, and Noire clenched a fist.

"No… I'm not letting this happen!" Noire snapped, going to the console, and a keyboard appeared in one of the squares, the same thing on the other side near Yui as she was fading too. "If this gives GMs emergency access, then I should be able to get in and change this! I'm not just going to let you disappear!"

"Noire… please… don't try this hard… you can't…" Strea sobbed.

"_Never _tell me I can't Strea! You know that!" Noire snapped.

"I'm sorry Noire…. But this is one thing you can't do… I'm really sorry… but this is where my adventure ends… just promise me you'll get out alive, alright?" Strea asked as she and Yui vanished, and Philia fell to her knees as tears fell, and now, Noire was working at an even faster pace than before, Kirito doing the same.

"Dammit Kayaba!" Norie shouted, "Giver her back! Don't you dare take Strea away from me and Philia! I'm not letting this go your way… not anymore!"

"Kirito… what are you…" Asuna gasped as she looked up to see Noire and Kirito working.

"We can probably still use this GM account to access the system." Kirito stated.

"And hopefully we can find a way to save Strea and Yui." Noire stated, a screen showing walls of code and some with colors appearing before the two, and their gazes hardened as they watched a meter fill with red, the two boys' fingers flying across the keyboards they were working on, and a shine came from the console, knocking the two back.

"Noire!" Philai shouted, going over to Noire, and he sat up, something clenched in his hand. "Huh?"

"That's… what I managed to do…" Noire muttered, and he placed what was in his hand into Philia's, and it was a small, bright violet gem that shined with a bright light. "I wasn't able to bring her back fully… but I was able to turn Strea's main program into that of a game item, right before she could be deleted… it's like her heart… no… it's the hope her heart held… the hope to be real and live her life with us…"

Philia clenched the gem close to her chest, breaking down into sobs, and Noire held her close as she did, gently stroking her hair.

"You did it… you saved her… she's still with us…" Philia sobbed.

"Yeah… it's Strea's Hope… I promise… I _will _find a way to bring her back Phiia…" Noire stated, and Philia started letting her sorrow and happiness out in full.

**Floor 55, Noire and Philia's home**

Noire was sitting on the edge of the bed, gently stroking Philia's cheek to help her sleep.

"_She needs you… in a lot of ways." _

Those words… Noire always knew that Philia was dependent on him for support… but now… she'd need him more than ever.

"I promise… we will get Strea back… I swear… the same promise I made to clear this game… even if this world ends, I'll make sure she's with us." Noire stated, gently kissing Philia's forehead, and then he gasped when he saw a message appear in his inbox, and he opened it up, tears of his own finally falling when he saw it:

_**Family is forever… stay strong for me… I promise, we'll see each other again Noire…**_

_**Strea**_

"I'm sorry Strea… I should've tried harder to save you… but… I will… I promise…" Noire sobbed, and then Philia woke up, draping herself across Noire's back and wrapping her arms around him as he sobbed.

"Keep that promise Noire… we can do this… I'm here for you… just like you are me… I won't ever leave you… I'm yours forever Noire, so I'm never going to leave your side for as long as I live… and I believe in you… I believe in you and Strea… we're a family… that's what we're supposed to do." Philia stated as she laid down, pulling Noire down with her.

"Philia… I swore it… I will get you out of here… I won't die… I won't leave you either… Strea said it… family is forever… I'll keep it that way…" Noire stated despite how broken he sounded right now.

"I know you will… and I don't need to be reassured… I love you Noire… that's all I need to know to believe that you're strong enough." Philia stated.

"I love you too Philia… and you're right… next time we can… we're joining the raid team again… is that fine with you?" Noire asked, turning around, placing his forehead on Philia's, and she smiled at him, and he looked down slightly to see the small gem around her neck now, before looking back up right into her eyes.

"Of course… you never have to ask me." Philia stated as she leaned in and kissed Noire… and that same message still remained, the message to give them the hope they'd need:

_**Family is Forever**_

**A/N**

**I… I need to go sit in the emo corner for a bit… too many feels right now…**


End file.
